Controlling Outlook with Startup Switches

As a user or an administrator, you can use switches and command-line parameters to control how Outlook starts up. These techniques are useful when you want to change Outlook's default behavior—for example, if you always want the main Outlook window to open showing the Contacts folder—or when you want to perform specific tasks. You can use startup switches from a command line or from the Run dialog box; in general, however, it's easier to add startup switches to shortcuts on the desktop, in the QuickLaunch bar, or on the Start menu.

Outlook's startup switches fall into three categories. Depending on the switch, a shortcut performs one of the following actions: