novice wrote:

I have been using OE for a number of years, so may be swayed by how
easy that seemed. My inbox was completley different to my wife's and
also my sons, albeit we had to change identities. (As i said in my
earlier post, that would not cause me any problems).

Could you explain further how I should go about the process you have
suggested, (novice by name, novice by nature).

If you want everyone's mail to be completely separate, the best opton is to
give each person his or her own Windows login. [Aside: At my house, each
person has his or her own login and they are LIMITED accounts, with my
account being the only Administrator (and password protected) account so no
one but I can install software. I won't have the kids screwing up the PC by
allowing them to install whatever they want.] Each person logs in and
creates his or her own mail profile and then Outlook downloads the
individual's messages to a Personal Folders file kept in the Local Settings
folder tree for that person. [Another aside: I review the contents of those
PSTs from time to time by adding them to my mail profile. My kids have no
"right to privacy" when it comes to email.]

As an alternative to separate Windows logins, you can create separate mail
profiles under a single Windows login with the Mail applet in Control Panel.
Each mail profile can reference a unique PST. The option to ask which
profile Outlook should use when starting can be enabled so that when each
person starts Outlook, he or she can chose the correct profile to open.
This, too, will keep mail separate.

Lastly, all the accounts can be in the same mail profile and you can use the
Rules Wizard to create a rule that will examine the receiving account and
move the incoming message to a specific folder so that each individual's
mail is sorted to specific folders.

Is this clearer?
--
Brian Tillman