Backing up Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is commonly used by most people in office environments.  It is either used by connecting to your local server and picking up the mail or if you don’t have a server, it will pick up the mail directly from the internet.  Whilst the latter method is a lot cheaper and less hassle to maintain, you are faced with a simple truth; it is up to you to backup your email as you have no server to do the job for you.  If you lose your computer or your hard disk (or even simply replace it) you will lose all your emails.  This may have serious data issues and may impact on your ability to work effectively.  So, get backing up!  The rest of this document shows you how to do that (using the Personal Folders Backup Tool) and is based on Microsoft’s own documentation.

There are three ways to back up your Outlook e-mail messages, contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, and journal entries — the Personal Folders Backup tool, exporting, and archiving.

The Personal Folders Backup tool  is used to copy your entire .pst file or files to your hard disk or to a network server or share.

Export  is used to create a file containing Outlook information, but still keep the original data in your folders. You can only export one folder at a time.

Archive  is used to move the items that you want to back up out of your folders.

Backing up your Microsoft Outlook information is quicker and easier with the Personal Folders Backup tool. Personal Folders Backup creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2002 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.

With Personal Folders Backup, you can choose which of your .PST files you wish to back up, and how often you wish to back them up.

Each .PST file contains all of your Outlook folders, including the Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts. You can have a single .PST file (usually called "Internet Folders" or "Personal Folders" in your Folder List), but you might also have an additional .PST file that you use for archiving ("Archiving Folders"). Personal Folders Backup lets you back up any or all of these .PST files.

Note: Personal Folders Backup only backs up .PST files. If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox, your server mailbox folders are likely backed up regularly by your server administrator.

Using the PST Backup tool Tip   Before you begin the backup process, you might want to check the size of your .pst file. If you have multiple folders in your .pst file, you must select the top-level folder to determine the total file size for all the folders.

1. Quit Outlook.
2. Download the tool from the Microsoft Office Online site by clicking the Download link and following the instructions in the dialog boxes.
3. To start the setup program, double-click the Pfbackup.exe program file on your hard disk.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
5. Start Outlook.

Instructions for use

The Personal Folders file (.pst) that you want to back up must be open. If the file is visible in Folder List, it is open.

1. On the File menu, click Backup.
2. Click Options.
3. In the Backup these personal folders files list, select the check box for each item you want to back up.
4. Change the .pst file name shown. Or, to select a different folder, click Browse, navigate to the location you want, and then click Open. Note:   The default file name and location where the .pst file is saved is shown in the File location box.
5. To have Microsoft Outlook automatically remind you to make a backup copy of this file, select the Remind me to backup every x days check box, and then type the number of days between 1 and 999.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Save Backup. Note: The items selected will not be backed up until you quit Outlook.

1. Lists Personal Folders files (.pst) that will be included in the backup. 
2. Displays the last time a backup was completed.
3. The Options button is where you can set reminders for the backup, which Personal Folders files are included, and the file location where the      backup is saved. 
4. You can open previously created backups.

Selecting the check box specifies that reminders are to be used. You can specify any number between 1 and 999 days. Select the check box for each Personal Folders file you want to back up. The file location is where your data will be copied to. Your original data will not be moved and changed. Once a backup is complete, you can use Windows Explorer to go to this location and see the backup file or copy it to removable media such as a CD, DVD, portable hard drive, or portable memory device.

Turn on or off a backup reminder

Open a backup copy of a Personal Folders file

1. On the File menu, click Backup.
2. Click Open Backup.
3. Click the personal folders file you want to open, and then click Open. Note: You can also open a .pst file without using the Personal Folders Backup tool. In Outlook, you can open Outlook data files on the File menu.

Where .pst files are stored

When you create a .pst file, it is saved to the Outlook local settings folder located at one of the following:

Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003Outlook 2002 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

C:\Documents and Settings\Profiles\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data on computers with multiple users or C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook on computers with a single user.

Microsoft Windows® XPOutlook 2002 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

C:\Documents and Settings\Profiles\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data on computers with multiple users or C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook on computers with a single user.

Microsoft Windows 2000Outlook 2002 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003    

C:\Documents and Settings\Profiles\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data on computers with multiple users or C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook on computers with a single user.

Change the backup location for a personal folders file

1. On the File menu, click Backup.
2. Click Options.In the Backup these personal folders files list, click the file you want to change the backup location for, and then change the location in the Backup the file selected above to this location box.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Save

Backup.To Remove the PST Backup tool

1. Quit Outlook.
2. Do one of the following:

In Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 or Windows XP

1. In Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs. Note   If you are using Classic view, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
2. In the list of programs on the Install/Uninstall tab, find Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup, and then select it.
3. Click Change/Remove. 
4. Confirm that you are certain you want to uninstall this software by clicking Yes.

Toview personal folders backup status in Outlook

• On the File menu, click Backup. In the Personal Folders Backup dialog box, you can see which personal folders files are currently set to be backed up and the date of the last backup.

Troubleshooting Personal Folders BackupI created a backup copy of my file and now I need to use it.

The amount of information you want to recover will determine the way you restore your backup data. If you want to recover:

• A few items that were accidentally deleted or changed, open the file and then move or copy the items from the backup file into your original file.

1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Outlook Data File.
2. Click the .pst file you want to open, and then click OK.  Note: These steps are for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and may differ slightly for other Outlook versions.

The name of the folder associated with the data file appears in the Folder List (Folder List: Displays the folders available in your mailbox. To view subfolders, click the plus sign (+) next to the folder. If the Folder List is not visible, on the Go menu, click Folder List.). To view the Folder List, on the Go menu, click Folder List. By default, the folder will be called Personal Folders.

• Close the backup file by right-clicking it, and then click Close.
• A large number of items or an entire folder, import the backup copy of the file. If you don't need to replace the entire folder, you can filter items to obtain the ones you want. Or you can import the entire folder and specify whether or not to replace duplicate items.

1. On the File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Click Import from another program or file, and then click Next.

3. Click Personal Folder File (.pst), and then click Next.

4. In the File to import box, specify the path and file name of the .pst file you want to import.

5. Choose one of the following: 

• • Replace duplicates with items imported    Existing data will be overwritten with the information in the file being imported.
  • Allow duplicates to be created    Existing data will not be overwritten, and duplicates will be added to the current Outlook folder.
  • Do not import duplicate items    Existing data will be kept, and the duplicate information in the file will not be copied to the current Outlook folder.

6. Follow the remaining instructions in the Import and Export Wizard.

• Your entire .pst file, quit Outlook and use the Windows Find command to locate and rename your damaged .pst file. Make a copy of your backup .pst file, and then give that copy the name of your damaged original .pst file. This file needs to be in the same directory as the original .pst file. Restart Outlook.

I created a .pst file and I can't remember the path where I saved it.

1. On the View menu, click Folder List.
2. Right-click the top-level folder of the .pst file that you want to determine the location for.
3. On the shortcut menu, click Properties for <file name>, and then click Advanced. The location information will be displayed in the Path box.

I keep getting the error message: "The Personal Folders file (.pst) <file name> could not be opened. The file may not be compatible with this version of Outlook or it may be corrupted."

Try opening the .pst file from the Outlook File menu. If you get the error message "The file <file name> is not compatible with this version of the Personal Folders information service. Contact your administrator." then the .pst file contains Unicode information. Unicode information is supported by Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and later. If you are using an earlier version of Outlook, the file will not be accessible. If you get an error message saying the file is not readable or is corrupted, try using the Outlook Inbox Repair tool. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/outlook-help/about-the-inbox-repair-tool-HP003089625.aspx?CTT=5&;origin=HA001087532 )

The Backup command is missing.

The Personal Folders Backup tool either is not installed or has been removed. Install the Personal Folders Backup tool.  

Note: You may need to download Personal Folders Backup from the Microsoft Office Online Web site.