Difference Between Outlook & PST password protection
There is a major difference between Outlook Data File Password Protection and Outlook Profile Password Protection. Confusion mainly arises among users regarding the Password protection of PST files, leading them to believe that both types of password protection apply to Outlook PST files. But let me clear you out that as their names are different their semantics is also different.
Password protection in Outlook for every data or data entity makes it more secure and invulnerable to the threat. Well, sometimes this password protection becomes a threat to our data. Yeah, it consists of many factors but today we are discussing on What is the major difference between password-protected Outlook And Outlook Data File?
Password Protection in Outlook
Outlook is an email client with a web and desktop-based approach by Microsoft. Outlook is as usual widely used among all email clients because of its interactive features, simple UI/UX & moreover good control. Users can control their Outlook application and mould it according to their requirements.
If you are so much into Outlook then it is clear that your Outlook consist of personal data of yours also which may be highly confidential. In this case, you can put up a strong password in your Outlook Profile so that if someone new is trying to open your Outlook account without your knowledge then he/she will receive a prompt for a password like the screen attached below:-
- Although there is no need to password-protect your Outlook Profile when you are running Outlook through MS Exchange, the exchange will auto-manage the data protection.
- Another fact about Password Protection on Outlook profiles is that you can put a password on the server by itself.
- Secondly, Outlook profile can be managed and password protected by Windows User credentials as Outlook itself doesn’t provide any password protection scheme for the whole profile. So you can put up a strong Windows credential to protect your Outlook application from any outer threat.
But you can password protect your Outlook data file (.pst) easily and every time. When someone new wants to access your data it will prompt for a password and hence make them unable to access your Outlook data. The PST file password protection is provided by Microsoft Outlook itself and there is the whole procedure mentioned on how to password protect your PST data file.
Password Protection in Outlook Data File
There are some steps one should follow to provide a strong password to PST files:-
- For Outlook 2003 & 2007 version:-
- Go to File > Data File Management
- Then double-click on your PST file
- You will get a button: Change Password
- For Outlook 2010, 2013 & 2016 version
- Go to File > Click on Account settings
- Inside it select the Account Settings tab of Data Files
- Double-click on your PST file
- Again you will get a button: Change Password
- Then by clicking OK your password is set and now your PST is password protected.
Important Notes
1. You can see the old password section. Well for setting the PST password for the first time “leave the old password empty”. This will set a password on your PST file.
2. You should check the option of “save this password in your password list” to escape the password prompt every time when you access your PST file. Otherwise for security concerns uncheck the option and give a password every time you access PST data.
3. If you put a password on PST then it will be applied to all of the folders in that PST, you cannot give a password to every folder individually inside a PST. But If you have a number of PST files then you have to give individual password protection to every of your PST files.
4. It is important for you to remember your PST password because Microsoft cannot retrieve your password if you forget it or accidentally lose your password.
5. In case you forgot your PST password then Microsoft can’t help you with this and then you simply cannot access your PST data in Outlook. Now the situation occurs of What to do if Microsoft is not helping then who will remove the password from the PST file & retrieve data from the password-protected PST file?
Scenario for password protection in Outlook & Outlook Data File Password Recovery
You can perform recovery of both the passwords in case of any loss & corruption. It’s easy to remove the Outlook profile password, allowing the user to regain access to their Outlook profile. There are some manual steps & procedures for recovering the forgotten passwords of Outlook profiles.
If you are stuck between the number of passwords and forgot the password of your Outlook data file then yes Microsoft is not helping you in this case but there are tools & utilities from third parties that help you to recover the Outlook data file (PST) password and make your PST data accessible again.
Read more: Why MS Outlook Cannot Start.
Verdict:- Difference between Outlook Profile & Outlook Data File Password Protection
As mentioned above the whole terminology of Outlook Profile password and Outlook data file password plus the clearance between these both password protection. I think now the user will be clear for the next time when he wants to set the password on his Outlook or Outlook data file only.
Many people mistakenly believe that the Outlook Profile Password applies to the entire Outlook account, meaning that the application requests the password whenever accessed.
On the other hand, if you apply the password only to the .pst file, Outlook allows you to open the application, but it prompts for a PST password when attempting to open any email file or folder within Outlook.
Hence this is the minor difference between Outlook data file password & Outlook profile Password protection.