Outlook 2011for Mac has a special folder within the Mac OS X Finder called Office 2011 Identities. Just like it sounds, this special folder contains everything about your Outlook activities. Inside the Office 2011 Identities folder, Outlook stores one folder for each individual Identity. The name of the folder is the name of the Identity.
This should set the correct permissions for your identity. You should now be able to launch Outlook and import your 2011 identity by selecting Import on the File menu. More information. Outlook 2016 for Mac is available with the following subscriptions: Office 365 Home; Office 365 Personal; Office 365 University; Office 365 Business; Office 365. Rebuild Complete Mac Outlook Database. Outlook Mac Recovery Software has an inbuilt feature that extensively scans the Mac MS Outlook or Office 365 profile/identity and recovers its data items. The profile can be identified automatically by the software from its respective default location. Outlook 2016 for Mac, Outlook for Mac for Office 365; In this article. Original KB number: 2800895. We do not recommend that you change the default location of your Profile folder for Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac, or your Identity folder for Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 to an external hard disk or to a network. Whenever you have messages waiting for you, an advisement will be sent to you in email. I also use Outlook 2011 for Mac and it can have some funky behavior at times. Based off your description you tried rebuilding your outlook identity but you were unsuccessful. I do believe you were on the right path so lets start by exploring that further.
An Outlook for Mac 2011 identity can only be imported into an empty Outlook 2016 for Mac profile. An empty profile is one where accounts or other data have yet to be added. We suggest you create a new empty profile in Outlook 2016 for Mac using the Outlook.
Each Identity folder stores your e-mail, account information, calendar events, tasks, and notes in a database for each Identity.
For Outlook 2011, the structure of an Identity folder is completely new. Outlook now treats each item within an Identity as a discreet file. Each e-mail, calendar event, or task is stored as its own file. This means Time Machine backups for your Identity can take a fraction of a second instead of several minutes or longer as it sometimes did in Entourage. Spotlight searching is much improved as a beneficial side effect.
By default, Outlook makes an Identity for you called Main Identity, which stores your first e-mail account’s information. It’s a good idea to learn where your Identity folder is located, if for no other reason so that you know not to delete or move it. Use Mac OS X Finder application (on your Dock) to navigate your file system.
Keep in mind that when you upgrade or add an e-mail account, calendar, task, or note, the information is stored within an Identity.
These scenarios illustrate times when having more than one Identity is desirable:
Separation of work and private life e-mail accounts: Your work may require you to have an IMAP account, a Gmail account, and an Exchange account, but you want to keep your personal e-mail accounts, contacts, tasks, and notes from mixing in with your business activities. Use one Identity for work and another for your private life.
Keeping jobs independent: Perhaps you work two or more jobs and don’t want to intermingle mail, calendars, and so on. Making an Identity for each job can help you keep your jobs from getting crossed.
Organization support: If you take care of the e-mail for a club or organization, make a separate Identity to keep that mail segregated.
Special event: If you manage a special event, such as a conference, webinar, or colloquium, starting a new Identity and e-mail account for the event is the perfect way to manage things.
Original KB number: 2800895
We do not recommend that you change the default location of your Profile folder for Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac, or your Identity folder for Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 to an external hard disk or to a network. Additionally, using a mail identity or profile that is located on an external hard disk or on a network is not supported in either version of Outlook for Mac.
More information
Outlook 2016 for Mac caches your mail items in a profile in your home folder at the following location:
~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles
Outlook for Mac 2011 caches your mail items in an identity in your home folder at the following location:
~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities
Outlook 2011 For Mac Identity
Like Microsoft Entourage for Mac 2008, Outlook 2016 for Mac and Outlook for Mac 2011 are intended to be purely locally cached mail clients. Changing the location or using a mail identity that is located on an external hard disk or a network is not supported.