Outlook PST file Default Location

[jakatz]

I know this may seem like a dumb question to some, but I have been trying to figure this out for a while now and cannot seem to come up with a good answer:

Does anyone know why Microsoft, by default, places the users' Outlook.pst file in the following folder structure:

<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder

Although, by default, we store our users' PST files on their respective home folders on the network (along with the rest of their "My Documents" files / folders), wouldn't it have been logical for Microsoft to have placed the PST file in their respective "My Documents" folder (or a sub-folder within the My Documents folder?)

It just seems like Microsoft's default location is very obscure -- although there must be a reason for it.

 

[NoCalAdmin]

the \Application data path is not accessible be any other profiles without Admin rights. The My Documents folder path is accessable by other profiles. So for basic security those contents are kept within each users profile.

Plus, I belive MS code refers to the profile who is requesting the application to open and therefore needs to be associated to every profile via the \application\ path in the profiles of each user.