Backing Up Microsoft Outlook

November 27, 2005

Microsoft Outlook is my favorite email program, but when it comes to backing up files, it can be a little tricky. There are three major aspects of Microsoft Outlook that you need to consider.

Microsoft Outlook PST File

The main file in Outlook is called a .pst file. This includes calendar, contact, tasks, journal, notes, and all your folders. This folder can grow quite large, and might need cleaning out before you back it up. My last backup of a cleaned .pst file was a little over 3. 7 gigs (hence why I don’t use GMail), so I had to zip it before I could burn it to DVD.

The first thing to consider is if you want to delete all the items in your deleted items folder. Cleaning out this folder can quite easily save a lot of disk space. If you now realize that you want to save deleted emails from particular senders this is the time to make a new rule. If you wish to save all the deleted items, then archive them.

To archive a folder, click on: File > Archive. Click the deleted items folder, then OK. This will cause these files to take up less space, yet more time if you need to access them in the future. You can choose to archive only items older than X months so recent items are quickly accessible.

Next, consider deleting or archiving your Sent Items Folder. This folder, over time, can start to accumulate thousands of emails in it. If you want to save sent messages to a particular person, look at the Microsoft Outlook Rules page for instructions.

Look at Journal and Tasks. Archive items over X months old. To archive these folders, you can also right click on the folder, choose properties. Click on the archive tab, and then select the date you want to archive items older than. Here you also have the option of deleting these older items instead of archiving them.

Now it’s time to back up our .pst file. Click file > import & export. Select export to a file, click next. Select Personal File Folder (.pst), click next. Highlight Personal Folders, and then check the Include Subfolders box.

Click desktop > My Documents. Right click, select new folder. Make a folder called Outlook. This is where we’re going to save all our backup information. Now choose a file for it to be exported to. I would suggest saving backup folders by date and select allow duplicate items to be created. This way you can backup your files, and then delete the 3rd oldest backup. Just in case, I keep two backups on my computer. Now click finish. Your .pst backup folder for Microsoft Outlook email software was just created.

You now have a copy of all your email folders, journal entries, notes, and tasks, but what about rules and accounts? Nope, they weren’t backed up, those are separate files.

The Rules Wizard in Microsoft Outlook Email Software

To back up the Rules Wizard, make sure the folder highlighted is an email folder.

Now click Tools > Rules Wizard. Click Options. Click Export Rules.

Browse to the Outlook folder in My Documents where we just saved the .pst file above. Name the rules the current date so you know which rules file goes with which .pst file, and click save. That was nice and easy, and we’re almost done backing up all our Microsoft Outlook information

Backing up Accounts in Microsoft Outlook

Most people have 3-5 email accounts, some have only one, and others have over 50. This can be a lot of information to save, and a lot of passwords you don’t want to remember and reenter all the time. These email accounts are easy to back up, but we must do them all individually.

Again, make sure the highlighted folder is an email folder. Click tools > account. Highlight an email account, and click export.
Browse to the Outlook folder in My Documents where we’ve saved everything else, and click save.
Repeat this for each of your accounts.
We’re Done backing up Microsoft Outlook

Congratulations, you now have backup files for all your Outlook information. If you need to move information from work to home, or just save it in case of emergency, you can now use CD Burning Software and have a permanent record of your Outlook information.

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Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under eWhisper's Notebook