Outlook: SMTP Address displayed in profile does not change when the users primary email address changes.

In recent weeks I have had the chance to work with several customers on an inquiry regarding the SMTP address displayed in an Outlook profile.

 

Let us take a look at an example.  In Exchange 2013 a user account is provisioned and has a primary SMTP address of alias@domain.com.

 

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When an Outlook profile is configured, the primary address is displayed as the root name of the default folder structure.

 

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Email addresses may be changed at anytime.  In this instance the primary email address of the users account is changed.  It may be changed to an address within the same domain or to another accepted domain.

 

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In this example the primary SMTP address has changed to alias@subdomain.domain.com.

 

When launching Outlook the user may notice that the email address in the root folder has not changed.

 

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This is by design.  The email address stamped in the root folder is determined at profile creation time and should reflect the primary SMTP address stamped on the user.  Although the address is strictly cosmetic some customers require it be changed if the users primary SMTP address changes.  The only supported method at this time to change this is to delete and recreate the profile for the user.