How to change your storage folder in Windows Live Mail

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In a situation where you need to free up storage, one of the most frustrating experiences can be figuring out what can be moved to another drive or deleted to help create more space. This is so common with these modern computers that are commonly configured with small SSD drives as their C: drive, which can easily run out of space due to their smaller storage capacity. This is normal. And if you are using Windows Live Mail, your email will be stored by default on your C: drive.

The good thing is that the program provides a way for you to easily change the location where your mail is stored, so that you can move it to another drive that may have more free space available. This tutorial will guide you through on how to change where your Windows Live Mail emails are stored in your computer.

Note: Your Windows Live Mail emails are stored by default in the %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail.

The first step in moving your mail storage is to start your Windows Live Mail. Once the program has started, you need to click on the "on the program's menu", which is found in the upper left hand corner of the program as shown below.

 



 

Once the menu is open, click on the Options section and then click on the Mail menu option. This will open the General tab of the Mail options screen. Please click on the Advanced tab and you will be shown a screen similar to the example below.

 



 

Now click on the Maintenance option as indicated by the red arrow in the image example above. This will bring you to the Maintenance settings screen.

 



 

Now click on the Store Folder option. This will open a small dialog box that shows the path to the current mail storage folder.

 



 

On the above screen we can change the location that Windows Live Mail stores its email. To do so, click on the Change button and you will now be presented with a Browse dialog box where you can select the new location for your mail storage.

 



 

Browse to an existing location that you wish to move your mail to or create a new folder. Once you are done, click on the OK button. You will now be shown the Storage Location dialog box with the new path that you have selected.

 



 

To have Windows Live Mail use this new folder, click on the OK button. Once you click on the OK button, you will be shown a prompt message that states you need to restart Windows Live Mail for these changes to go into effect. Click on the OK button in this prompt message and then close Windows Live Mail.

Once you close Windows Live Mail, the program will automatically copy all your existing mail and mail folders to the new location created.

 



 

Once it is done, you can start Windows Live Mail again and the program will now be storing your mail in the new created location.

Unfortunately, even though Windows Live Mail states it is moving your mail it is actually just copying it. You will still need to delete your old Windows Live Mail folder in order to free up the space on your C: drive. To do this close Windows Live Mail and browse to the old Windows Live Mail folder which is located under the following folder:

Windows 8, Windows7, Windows Vista: C:\Users\<login name>AppData\Local\Microsoft\

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<login name>\Application Data\Microsoft\

When you open that folder you will see a subfolder named Windows Live Mail. This is your old mail store. First rename it to Windows Live Mail.old and start Windows Live Mail again. If you can still access your email then we know that the program is using the new folder and we can safely delete the old one. Close Windows Live Mail again and now delete the Windows Live Mail.old folder. When the folder has finished deleting, you can now empty your Recycle Bin.

Windows Live Mail is now using the new folder and you have freed up the storage space it was using on your C: drive. Good luck with that!