Second only to losing image files, losing your emails could be one of the worst things that could happen to a photographer. The good news is that backing up your outlook emails is an EASY thing to do.
If you’re using POP for email Outlook stores your data in what they call Personal Folders (PST). The goal is to create a backup of these files so that you have something to fall back to. The following guide works for Outlook 2007 but the principles are the same for all versions of Outlook. You want to copy your .PST files.
- Open your copy of Outlook
- Click on the File tab
- Click on Data File Management
- Select the Data Files tab on the window that opens
- In this view you will see the various PST files your Outlook installation is using.
- Select one by clicking on it once to highlight
- Click the Open Folder button
- You should now be in a regular Windows Explorer window.
- Close Outlook but not this explorer window (make note of its location incase you accidentally close the Explorer window)
- Now copy the Outlook.pst file to an external drive, DVD, CD, etc…
- If you wish to backup all your Outlook settings be sure to grab the all the files in your Outlook directory you located above. (Example grab all .pst files, all .fav files, all .rwz files etc…)
Editors Note: Still using POP3 for email? You might consider switching to IMAP if your email host allows for it. IMAP allows you to store your files on a remote server meaning that if your harddrive crashes all you need to do is setup your email client and the emails should all be there. IMAP has the added benefit of allowing multiple computers to access the same emails, the ability to sync “read” and “unread” messages, sent folders, trash folders etc…
Even Better: Use an automated program to backup your PST files or entire Outlook data folder nightly.
Macheads don’t worry we’re working on a Mac Mail tutorial for you as well.
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