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How to reset default folder names (such as Inbox or Sent Items) to default names in the current Office user interface language. For example, if you first connect to your mailbox Outlook using a Russian user interface, the Russian default folder names cannot be renamed. To change the default folder names to another language such as Japanese or English, you can use the method described below to reset the default folder names after changing the user interface language or installing a different language version of Outlook.

A post in The Exchange Team Blog from a couple of years back described the Language setup for a mailbox with Exchange Server 2007. Unfortunately it was not 100% clear on how to change the default folders language, so I decided to post a solution. Here is the excerpt from The Exchange Team Blog post describing the issue:

“In previous versions of Exchange Server (before Exchange 2007), the language for a user mailbox was determined by the language setting of the MAPI agent (such as the Outlook client) and not by the Exchange server…

In Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (and 2010), you can specify the language preferences for a mailbox, in order of preference, with the Languages parameter by using the Exchange Management Shell and the Set-Mailbox cmdlet. Several Exchange components display information to the user using the preferred language, if that language is supported. These components include quota messages, non-delivery reports (NDRs), the Microsoft Outlook Web Access user interface, and Unified Messaging (UM) voice prompts.”

Microsoft TechNet article Change the Languages for a User Mailbox describes the PowerShell command used to change the language (you can’t use the EMC to change the languages for a user mailbox). This example sets the language for the user Katarina Larsson to Finnish:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Katarina Larsson" -Languages "fi-FI"

Unfortunately the above cmdlet will not change the names of the default folders of an already initialized mailbox. Here is a quick summary of the various possibilities to set the language of the default folders (Inbox, Deleted Items, Sent Items, etc.):

• Administrator can make changes using cmdlets (Set-Mailbox, Set-OwaDefaultVirtualDirectory) but only before mailbox initialization!
• Client can make default folder name changes using Outlook Web Access (could not confirm) or Outlook client (this method worked).

The first of the following actions will set the language of the default folders:

• Set the Languages parameter (with Set-Mailbox cmdlet) by an administrator.
• Connection to the mailbox with an MAPI agent (like Outlook client).
• Connection to the mailbox with OWA.
• Mail received by the mailbox before any connection or administrator action (use of the Mailbox server language).

It is possible for the user to change the default folder names to another language with the following method (and the only method that I was able to confirm to work) — by using the Outlook client (Outlook 2002 and newer version can run a command line switch to rename the default folders to the language of the client).

To do this, click Start, click Run, and then type:

"Outlook.exe /resetfoldernames"

Outlook will start normally and the default folder names will be set in the language of the client. Here is the trick though – this only works if the Outlook profile is set to “Use Cached Exchange Mode”.  Based on my tests the folders were not renamed in non-cached/on-line mode. Please note that you may need to specify the exact path to the executable, so for Microsoft Outlook 2007 the command may look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE /resetfoldernames"

Also, take a look at other useful Outlook command-line switches.