How to Create a New Outlook Profile (3 Methods)

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By Victor Ashiedu

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Did you change your Windows username, or is your current outlook profile corrupt? Then, you can use one of the three methods in this guide to create a new outlook profile.

In the guide’s first section, you’ll learn how to create a new Outlook profile from Outlook Account Settings. You can also create a new Outlook profile via Control Panel.

The steps to perform the task from Control Panel are covered in section two. Finally, I also showed you how to create a new profile by accessing OLCFG.EXE in Program Files.

To create an Outlook profile, you need to access Mail Setup (shown below). The difference between the 3 methods discussed in this guide is how Mail Setup is accessed.

Options to Create New Outlook Profile

How To Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings

Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings

Here are the steps for this method:

  • Open Outlook. Then click File and click Account Settings drop-down. Finally, select Manage Profiles.
Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings
Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings
  • When Mail Setup opens, click Show Profiles..
Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings
  • If you receive User Account Control confirmation, click Yes.
  • At Mail profiles, you have 2 options: Use Add button to add a new profile. Or use Copy button to copy an exiting profile into a new profile. To copy and existing Outlook profile select the profile from the list then click Copy
In this section I will demo how to copy an exiting profile. In the second method I will demo how to create a new profile using the Add button.
  • On the Copy Profile pop up, rename the profile. Then click OK.
  • To load this profile by default, on the When Starting Outlook, use this profile section, select Always use this profile. Then select the new profile from the drop-down.

How To Create New Outlook Profile From Control Panel

Create New Outlook Profile From Control Panel

You can also access Mail settings for Outlook profiles from Control Pane.

Here are the steps..

  • Press Windows logo + R to open Run Command.
  • At Run command type Control Panel and click OK.
  • If Control Panel View by is in Category, click the drop-down. Then select Small icons.
  • On the Small icons Control Panel view, click Mail (Microsoft Outlook xxx(xx bits).
The name of the Mail Settings will depend on your version and edition of Outlook.
  • When Mail Setup opens, click Show Profiles..
Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings
  • At Mail profile settings, click Add..
  • On the New Profile pop up, give the profile a name. Then click OK.
  • On the Add Account page, enter your name and the email address you wish to add to the new profile. Then type and retype the password for the email and click Next.
When you click Next, Outlook will attempt to auto-detect the settings for your email provider. If it finds the settings, it will set it up automatically.
  • If you are prompted to reenter your password. Type it then click Sign in. This page may look different depending on your email provider.
  • Depending on your email provider, you may also receive this message. Click Next.
  • If Outlook is able to connect to your email, it will setup and add the profile to outlook. On the final page, click Finish. The new outlook profile will become available in your Mail Profile (See the second image below).

How To Create New Outlook Profile by Accessing OLCFG.EXE in Program Files

Create New Outlook Profile by Accessing OLCFG.EXE in Program Files

The last method discussed in this guide demos how to access Mail Setup from Program Files.

Here are the steps to create new Outlook profile with this method:

  • Type %Programfiles(x86)% in search bar. Then click the folder in the search result.
The above step will open “Program files(x86)” folder. If you installed a 32 bits Outlook, use %Programfiles% instead.
Create New Outlook Profile by Accessing OLCFG.EXE in Program Files
  • When your Program Files folder opens, navigate to Microsoft Office\root folder.
Create New Outlook Profile by Accessing OLCFG.EXE in Program Files
  • Then, depending on your version of Office, open either Office Office 15 or Office 16 folder.
One way to determine which of the folders to use is to open them one after the other. One of the folders is likely to be empty. Ignore the empty folder.
  • Within Office 15 or Office 16 folder, locate and open OLCFG.EXE. Then respond Yes to the User Account Control confirmation.
  • When the Mail Setup opens, click Show Profiles
Create New Outlook Profile From Outlook Account Settings
  • To create new Outlook profile click Add…Alternatively, you could copy an existing profile using Copy
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-1109.png

You should be able to create new Outlook profile with one of the methods discussed in this guide.

However, if your current outlook profile is corrupt, do not copy the existing profile as it may copy the issues across to the new profile. In such situation, it is better to create a new profile.

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About the Author

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Victor Ashiedu

Victor is the founder of InfoPress Media, publishers of Ilifeguides and Itechguides. With 20+ years of experience in IT infrastructure, his expertise spans Windows, Linux, and DevOps. Explore his contributions on Itechguides.com for insightful how-to guides and product reviews.

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