Microsoft Outlook - How to backup personal folders

Microsoft Outlook is the preferred Windows email program for many users. Incredibly, many of these users are at risk for losing emails, contact information and other important personal information. This very effective personal management tool has an Achilles heel.

All of the users information from email, to calendar, to contact information, etc are kept in one single data file called the pst file. For an active user this file gets bigger and more bloated over time.

This leaves the user vulnerable to the pst file becoming corrupted and potentially unreadable. The user is also vulnerable to operating errors. Delete an email group that you use for mass email addressing and its gone! Without a backup of your pst file you are screwed.

For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft never included a useful and easy backup option to Outlook. They have always offered an ability to export the backup files, but this is a many click and manual procedure the the average user won't do for them selves.

As is often the case, the void is filled with 3rd party utilities, in this case Outlook backup programs. However, these programs and not used often enough, partly because of cost and partly because of required user involvement. "How can I recover lost email if I don't backup the pst file?"

Microsoft introduced a very good, and totally free answer to the questions, "How do I backup my Outlook files?" They provide a free download of an add-on program that works inside Outlook, and after an easy installation and setup, becomes an automatic safe guard to the problem of lost emails, lost contact information, etc.

The program is called "Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup". The file, pfbackup.exe can be downloaded and installed in minutes. If that link doesn't work for some reason, simply do a web browser search for "Outlook personal folders backup."

Step one - download and install the Outlook Add-in. After installing the add-in you need to close Microsoft Outlook if it's open, and then restart Outlook.

Step two - setup the automatic backup of your Outlook files:

• Click "File", then select "Backup" from the drop down menu.
• Select "Options" and the Options window opens up.
• Set your reminder frequency, any where from one to seven days is suggested.
• Select the Outlook and Archive pst files for backup
• Navigate to a folder for the backup files. It is recommended that this be on a different hard drive from your OS hard drive (usually C drive).

Close the options window and do a test backup, by selecting "backup now". You will need to close Outlook for the backup to start.

After that, depending on the frequency your chose, A backup reminder wil pop up when you close Outlook for the first time on a given day. Let it do the backup and you will have more peace of mind, as your Outlook files now have a safety net.

Now you've done it! You lost an email copy and need to recover it. You deleted a mail list, and you're sure you could recreate it completely. What can you do?

If you have been saving your Outlook pst files regularly you have a shot at recovery!

To restore an Outlook pst file backup:

• Click "File", then select "Backup" from the drop down menu.
• Click the "Open Backup" button
• Select you backup pst file, and click "Open"
• The previously saved "Personal Folder" is added to your Outlook. You can simply open this older version of your personal folder, navigate to the "lost" email or contact, then drag and drop it into your current Personal Folder.
• When you are finished with the backup copy, you can simply right click on it and "Close" it.

Checkout the screen shots below to see this simple process in action.

The are some things you can do to keep your Outlook information in top notch shape:

Copy your Outlook contacts to standalone file, another Outlook user, or a database.

Use the Outlook utility, Scanpst, to scan and fix some errors that creep into your Outlook pst file.

Clean house periodically. The leaner your pst file, the safer your data. Dump you trash. Delete useless old mail.

Set your archive options to move important but old stuff into a separate pst file.

Move saved email out of outlook, and into windows file folders. This way you can save old stuff, but get it out of your Outlook pst file.

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