Outlook Troubleshooting

Different Ways to Back up Outlook Mailbox

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As you know that MS Outlook is the most preferred desktop email client app, it stores a copy of user’s mailbox data on the local computer apart from the original one is stored on the email server. In fact, based on email download protocol (IMAP or POP3), original email messages may or may not be located on server, once it is downloaded to your computer. Anyway, a copy of each original email message is still available in your mailbox. Well, the name of the local copy of the Outlook data file is Outlook.pst, which is located in the default install folder of your computer. In case you still own a Windows XP based machine, you can find it at the following location:

“C:/Documents and Settings/%username%/Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft/Outlook/”

In contrast, the location of the Outlook.pst file in Windows 7 and Vista is a bit different, i.e.

“C:/Users/%username%/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook/”

Where %username% is the name of the user account on your computer you are logged in with.

You must be wondering that if mailbox data is stored on the local computer, then it must be under the threats of unauthorized user access, virus or malware infections, and other random issues causing database corruption. Well, you are absolutely right that Outlook.pst file stored locally might get corrupt due to virus infection and many other causes. With this post, I am going to enlighten a number of different ways in which you can back up your Outlook mailbox data, and you can choose any of the following efficient and risk free ways:

Manual Backup

MS Outlook is quite secure and therefore, the most preferred email client app for Windows computers. As mentioned above, a copy of the Outlook mailbox data including emails, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, and everything else associated with your Outlook account is stored locally, i.e. on your own computer. In order to protect your Outlook data file (i.e. Outlook.pst), you can back it up manually, in the following manner:

It is recommended to write the Outlook.pst file to a CD/DVD (i.e. based upon the size of the PST file) to attain for higher security for your mailbox data. If the Outlook.pst file is very large (i.e. in GBs), you can split it into multiple smaller PSTs, based on certain criteria, such as from a particular date to another date, size of the Outlook.pst file and more, and then write the smaller PSTs to a CD/DVD.

Having a portable copy of your mailbox data lets you import it into the same or a later version of MS Outlook installed on any computer, which makes your Outlook mailbox accessible on multiple computers. Besides, you can set a password to the PST file associated with your Outlook account so as to avoid unauthorized user access to your mailbox.

Export Mailbox Data

In addition to the PST import feature, MS Outlook lets you export all or selected mailbox folders to a PST file in order to have a backup copy of your mailbox data. You can keep this PST file to a secure location on your computer or an external data storage media (viz. a USB hard drive, USB flash drive), based upon the size of the PST file. In order to figure out how to export Outlook mailbox data to a PST file, track the following steps:

Important: I am discussing how to export Outlook 2007 mailbox to a PST file.

  1. Go to Start > Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Outlook 2007
  2. In the ‘File’ menu, choose ‘Import and Export’ sub menu.
  3. In the ‘Import and Export Wizard’, choose ‘Export to a file’ and click the ‘Next’ button.
  4. In the ‘Export to a File’ wizard, choose Personal Folder File (.pst), and then click the Next button.
  5. In the ‘Export Personal Folders’ wizard, click root folder if you want to include all mailbox folders. Besides, do not forget to check the ‘Include Subfolders’ check box, and then click ‘Next’.
  6. For selective folder backup, click the ‘Filter’ button and choose the folders to back up.
  7. In the next window of the ‘Export Personal Folders’, click ‘Browse’ and select a location to save the PST file, and then click the ‘Finish’ button.

Once the backup process is finished successfully, you can move the PST file anywhere because this file is independent of the original PST as well as the Outlook client.

Add-in: Personal Folders Backup

One of the easiest ways to back up your Outlook mailbox data is using Microsoft’s Personal Folder Backup Add-in for your Outlook client, which is a 159KB pfbackup.exe file and is compatible with a range of versions of MS Outlook (i.e. Outlook 2007/2003/2002) installed on any of the following operating systems:

In order to back up Outlook mailbox data, simply download the Outlook Add-in here, and then install it on your computer that must be running a supported Windows operating system. After downloading the pfbackup.exe file, double-click it to install using the given options. To back up your Personal Folders, launch MS Outlook and click the File menu, and then choose Backup in the context menu. Click the ‘Save Backup’ button to start backing up your Personal Folders. In order to make desired changes in the backup options, click the Options button and make changers as per your requirements.

Well, based on the number of items located in each folder of your mailbox or/and the size of the Outlook.pst file associated with your Outlook account, the time elapsed in completing the backup process successfully varies. Therefore, you cannot pre-assume the time it will take to back up your Personal Folders.

Using Outlook Backup Software

MS Outlook is pretty advanced, secure, and therefore the most preferred email client at both individual and corporate levels. Well, at the corporate level, since every single email is crucial, it is quite important to back up Outlook mailbox folders carefully at regular intervals so as to avoid data loss due to PST oversize. In fact, an oversized PST is prone to corruption just as an overfilled disk that may anytime lead to corruption or cause mailbox inaccessibility. Therefore, there must a professional Outlook backup tool available to carry out mailbox backup task without failure or any such issue.

You can find a number of Outlook backup software on the Internet, though. However, it is quite difficult to decide that which one amongst the available ones is reliable and efficient for the intended task. To decide which one of them to choose, go through various software download portals, such as www.download.com, www.brothersoft.com, and more, and choose the one that you find most suitable.

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