Simple methods to backup your Outlook PST file

outlook email

Outlook is a widely used application. Most of the business world communication happens through Outlook.

Usage of PST file is common amongst Outlook users.

It is always a concern when it comes to protection of these PST file. Hence it is always better to backup these .pst files because these pst files can get corrupted anytime due to multiple reasons like: virus attach, termination of Outlook during updates, application error etc. The best option to avoid this is to backup PST files.

There are various methods to back up. They are:

Use Add- in

There are many add-ins that are supported by Outlook. To back up your PST file, you can use “Personal Folder Backup” add-in which will take backup regularly. Since it backups pst file automatically, you don’t have to manually backup these files every time. It allows you to select which file you want to backup, select the location to store these backup files and the frequency of backup can be set accordingly.

Use Import and Export option

This will allow you to export and import the pst files in the same system or different system. The following are the steps to import and export these pst files.

Go to File >> Import/Export >> Click on Export to File >> Select Personal Folder File(.pst)

Select the Export Folder – (You can even opt for subfolders by checking in the ‘Include Subfolders’ check box)

Select the Destination Folder. You can set the location of the exported file and click Finish.

Select ‘import from other programs’.

Select the destination folder and click on Finish button.

One should keep in mind that all the attributes cannot be copied using this backup option.

Copy File Manually

You can manually copy the file and save it in a different location. Thus even if the Outlook gets corrupted, you will have backup. PST files are saved in a specific location in your Windows according to the OS. Here are some of the locations where you can find the same:

Drive:\Users\<name>\Appdata\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Drive:\User\<name>\Roaming\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Drive:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application data\Microsoft\Outlook

This .pst file will include emails, journals, notes and calendar. All these can be moved to a different location for backup.

Use an application

Third party applications are meant for simplifying our work. Hence to backup Outlook pst also there are software available. There are multiple Outlook backup software in the market which offers additional features. One of the best Outlook backup software that we can recommend is Yodot Backup Outlook PST. This software takes backup PST files automatically in a fixed time period. The advantage is that this software can backup attributes whereas in Export/Import options that is not possible.

Relocate to different partition

In export and import option, it does not change the default location. To do that there is a different procedure.

You need to close Outlook and find the pst file which is stored in your PC. Copy that particular PST file which has all your Outlook data and paste it in a different partition with different name. Thus this can be your backup.

These are the easiest and best way to back up your Outlook and secure your data.