Tip 742: Outlook 2010 and Shortcuts to Public folders

If you want to use a shortcut to open Outlook to a public folder, you can use the select switch and path to the public folder:

Outlook.exe /select "outlook:\\Public Folders\All Public Folders\folder\subfolder"

This works great in older versions of Outlook but fails in Outlook 2010 with an error message:

Cannot start Microsoft Outlook.  Cannot display the selected folder or item.

In Outlook 2010, you need to include your Exchange email address in the path:

outlook.exe /select "outlook:\\Public Folders – frank@slipstick.com\All Public Folders\folder\subfolder"

Published May 11, 2010. Last updated on November 16, 2012.