How to rename your Microsoft Outlook Mail Profile

If you are using MS Outlook (any version), you will notice that there is no way to rename the mail profile from Control Panel (see Figures A and B).

Figure A

Figure B

I knew that most of these settings are stored in the registry, so I ran a search for every instance of Profile. I did find where the change was and confirmed my suspicion that this setting can be modified using the registry.

Note: As always, edit the registry at your own risk. Make sure you have a reliable backup of the registry; some erroneous edits could render your system unbootable.

The only way to rename your Mail Profile is through direct editing of the registry.

Figure C

Click to enlarge.

1. Launch Regedit and browse to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\ (Figure C).

2. Now, edit the DefaultProfile key by right-clicking and selecting Modify.

3. Rename the key to how you would like it to appear.

4. Next, right-click the profile you just renamed. It will be located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\bbird@igius.com.

5. Right-click the profile and click Rename and rename it to the same as above.

6. Close the Registry editor and then re-open the Mail Applet in Control Panel to find that the Mail Profile has been successfully renamed, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D