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About this lesson

Learn how to back up - also known as export - your Outlook folder.

Lesson versions

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2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

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Backup Outlook Folder.docx
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Quick reference

Outlook Backup

Secure your data from a disaster and BACKUP your Inbox, Contacts and Calendar!

When to use

No one can anticipate a computer failure and data loss. By pre-emptively running a backup, you will be a step ahead of a potential loss of data.

Instructions to

Export or back-up Outlook data

  • Click the File ribbon, Options, Advanced.

 

 

  • Locate the Export section and click Export.

  • Choose Export to a File and click Next.

  • Choose a file type.

  • Comma Separated Values is compatible to Excel or Outlook.
  • Outlook Data File (.pst) is compatible to Outlook only.
  • Select the folder to export from.
  • Outlook auto-names the file Backup.pst
    1. You should rename it to Inbox Backup.pst, then calendar backup, contacts backup, etc.
    2. You should click Browse and store this file somewhere safe on your computer or on a USB removable drive.
       
  • Click Finish.

Tips

  • Make your backup files individually for email, calendar, and contacts. Then in the case that you just need to restore contacts, you won’t overwrite months of new emails with old ones.
  • Name your backup files accordingly and include the date in the name, i.e.:
    Email backup, 05-05-20
    Calendar backup, 05-07-20
    Contacts backup, 06-08-20

Import or restore your data

  • Click the File ribbon, Options, Advanced.

 

 

  • Locate the Export section and click Export.

  • Choose Import from another program or File and click Next.

  • Choose a file type (pick the same type you chose when exporting.)

  • Comma Separated Values is compatible to Excel or Outlook.
  • Outlook Data File (.pst) is compatible to Outlook only.
  • Click Browse and find your file.​​​​​​​

  • Select which folder to import from (should be the only folder unless you have done many of these.)​​​​​​​

  • Click Finish.
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  • 00:04 Okay, in this day and age, we've got to back up our files.
  • 00:08 You never know when your stuff is going to get stolen or deleted.
  • 00:11 Or who knows what catastrophe could happen.
  • 00:14 It's all on the File menu, so inside Outlook, please click File.
  • 00:19 Please look near the bottom, we have an Options, please click that.
  • 00:23 In here, when this opens up, we have Advanced.
  • 00:26 because this is absolutely an advanced feature.
  • 00:29 When we get into Advanced, we have a lot of options in here.
  • 00:31 If I scroll a little bit, I see Export.
  • 00:34 You don't see Import yet, I have to click this Export first.
  • 00:38 Go ahead and click it, here we go, and now we have Import.
  • 00:41 Notice it defaults to Import, I can't import until I export.
  • 00:44 So Export to a file, that is always the option I choose.
  • 00:47 I ignore the top one, I always choose the second one and click Next.
  • 00:53 At this point, do I want to export as comma separated values?
  • 00:56 Well, if I'm going to upload it into another program, yes,
  • 01:00 it's got to be in a neutral file format.
  • 01:03 In this case, I want to upload it right back to my Outlook should something
  • 01:06 happen and I lose my Outlook file.
  • 01:08 So then I use the Outlook Data File (.pst).
  • 01:11 I'm going to go ahead and hit Next, it wants me to now select.
  • 01:16 If I want to, one fell swoop,
  • 01:18 back up my entire Outlook database, I'm going to click this top option.
  • 01:23 I do not recommend that, because if in six months
  • 01:27 I have to reimport from my contacts, I get all my old, old emails.
  • 01:31 It is my recommendation that you click Inbox and do an export,
  • 01:36 that you click Calendar and do an export, that you click Contacts and do an export.
  • 01:40 That you end up with three separate exports.
  • 01:42 All right, now, I'm going to click Inbox, I am going to back up my entire inbox.
  • 01:47 I am going to use Include subfolders, I'm going to hit Next.
  • 01:52 This is the first time I see the word backup.
  • 01:54 Now, I'm going to alter this, I'm going to make it land on my desktop.
  • 01:57 And I'm going to alter this to my inboxbackup.
  • 02:03 And honestly, I'd put a date on here as well.
  • 02:06 So this happens to be Feb 2019, and it is called backup.
  • 02:10 It's going to land on my desktop, I'm going to hit Finish.
  • 02:14 Here we go, do I want to password protect this?
  • 02:16 In the real world, probably, right now, not so much.
  • 02:20 I'm going to hit OK, and you see that spinning circle?
  • 02:24 If there are a lot of files in here, this could spin for a while.
  • 02:27 You saw that very quickly, there were a lot of files in there,
  • 02:29 it was sending papers over.
  • 02:30 All right, I'm done with this, I'm going to hit OK, and
  • 02:33 I'm going to do something very daring.
  • 02:35 Let me hit Cancel, okay, here's what I'm going to do.
  • 02:40 I'm going to right-click on my inbox, and I'm going to Delete All.
  • 02:43 I'm going to pretend a catastrophe just happened and
  • 02:45 I lost everything, Delete All.
  • 02:47 Are you sure you want to delete all?
  • 02:49 Yeah, I'm pretty sure, and just for good measure,
  • 02:51 let's right-click the Delete All and empty that folder.
  • 02:54 Let's make sure it's all gone, there's no getting this back at all.
  • 02:58 And technically,
  • 03:00 I would absolutely delete these as well, I would delete all these folders.
  • 03:04 Unfortunately, I have to do them one at a time, so hold on a second.
  • 03:09 Okay, my inbox no longer has an arrow next to it.
  • 03:11 I have deleted everything in my inbox, so let's test it.
  • 03:15 I'm crossing my fingers.
  • 03:16 Okay, click on File, click on Options, click on Advanced on the left.
  • 03:23 Now, remember, I can't import without hitting Export, so click on Export.
  • 03:27 And now Import from another program or file, yes,
  • 03:30 hit Next, and it is my Outlook Data File (.pst).
  • 03:34 Hit Next, and I put that on my desktop, so
  • 03:37 I'm going to browse to my desktop right over here.
  • 03:43 I click Desktop, and there it is, Inbox,Feb2019.backup.
  • 03:47 Here we go, I'm going to Open this up, Replace duplicates, sure.
  • 03:51 Allow duplicate, yeah, that's fine, that's fine, hit Next.
  • 03:53 Include subfolders, absolutely, Import items, yes, and Finish.
  • 03:59 And hopefully, they're all coming back, hold on.
  • 04:04 There they go, all right, let's go ahead and close this, let's see what happened.
  • 04:08 Here we go, my inbox just came back, all the folders just came back.
  • 04:13 This is wonderful, folks, this is great.
  • 04:15 This is why you do a backup just in case you need to restore your emails.
  • 04:21 Do a separate one for your contacts, do a separate one for your calendar.
  • 04:24 And you're set, you can breathe easy, okay, thank you.

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