AOL PFC or Personal Filing Cabinet is a filing system in AOL desktop software that enables the users to store and organize the mails locally in the hard drive. The file ensures easy access of AOL emails in the absence of internet connectivity. .pfc is the AOL PFC file extension. With every AOL username, only one PFC file is associated, which is accessible only via AOL desktop software. PFC file enables the users to create custom folders, which makes it easy to categorize the mails. In addition to this, the inbuilt search option allows the users to search for a particular email.
The AOL PFC location depends on the Windows OS version that is being used.
C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/AOL/C_America Online (version) /organize
C:\ProgramData\AOL\C_AOL Desktop (version)\backup
| Developer Company | America Online Inc. |
| Primary Association | AOL Desktop |
| Platform Supported | Microsoft Windows |
| File Category | Internet Related Files |
One of the biggest challenges associated with the AOL PFC file is its inability to be accessed from other computer. If an AOL Desktop user logs into other computer as a guest user or even in his own machine as a guest user, the PFC files will not be accessible. Thus, this factor puts a restriction on the accessibility of PFC files.
Another factor, which can prove to be a major concern for the users, arises in case AOL Desktop is uninstalled from the user machine. With uninstallation of AOL Desktop, the PFC is also deleted. Thus, it is advised to create regular backups of the PFC file either manually or by setting automatic backups.
In order to view these backup PFC files in absence of AOL Desktop, commercial utilities are the only solution. One such utility is AOL Viewer. The tool allows the users to view PFC files without the need of AOL installation.
Owing to the restrictions associated with AOL Desktop, some users might think of migrating to a different email client. However, doing this is not as easy as it might sound. Since PFC file is the proprietary format of AOL, it is inaccessible in any other email client apart from AOL.
Therefore, migrating the data from existing PFC file to other email clients calls for commercial utilities, like AOL PFC Converter. The software facilitates conversion of PFC file type to five file formats- EML, MSG, PST, MBOX and PDF. On conversion to other file formats, the users can easily access AOL emails in email clients like MS Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and many more.