Backing Up Your Outlook Email

Version 2003 - Tony Mitchell

As email is used more and more, it becomes important to back up critical information, such as emails your have received or sent to administrators, parents, or colleagues, just in case your computer should crash or become unusable. It would be a great idea to occasionally (monthly) back up the special file that contains all of your Outlook email information. Two methods to do this are listed below:

Exporting to a Flash (jump) drive

• Launch Outlook and choose Inbox
• From the File menu, choose Import/Export
• In the next window choose Export to a file and click Next
• In the next window choose Personal Folder File (.pst) and click Next
• In the next window select Personal Folders at the top of the window, put a check in the little Include Sub-folders box, and click Next
• In the next window, name the file by the date, Outlook, and .pst; here is an example -October1Outlook.pst
• In this same window, click on the browse button and choose your Flash drive (it is inside of My Computer and is usually the E drive)
• Click on Finish, then if another window opens, click Ok
• The export may take a few minutes, depending upon how much email is in your Outlook

Copying or burning the Outlook data file to a CD or Flash drive

• Burn or copy the Outlook.pst file that resides in the following location (these directions assume you are familiar with how to use the CD-RW writer on your computer)
• The Outlook.pst file is located inside of
• My Computer/ C drive / Documents and Settings / User / Local setting* / Application Data / Microsoft / Outlook

* If you do not see the Local Settings folder, it is because it is hidden; to reveal it you must go to the Tools menu and choose Folder Options. In the Folder Options window click on the View tab and find the section in the lower part of the window that reads Show Hidden Files and Folder and bubble in that choice; then click OK