The Computer Geeks - Computer Services

VOL: 002 Issue: 001 2006

Backing up your e-mail
By Jeff Bourque
www.thecomputergeek.ca

Welcome to another issue of The Computer Geek In the past we have briefly touch on how to back up your file, In this issue we are going to talk about how to backup your e-mails in Outlook Express and Outlook.

Double click on My Documents
In windows XP choose make new folder or in other operating systems right click in a blank area and choose make new folder.
3Rename the folder Mail Backup

Now that we created a back up folder you can copy or save files to that fold to backup to a CD, Flash or external hard drive, Now lets start with backing up outlook express e-mails first.
Outlook express is a standard basic e-mail program that is mostly used for residential users.

How to Manually Back Up Your Outlook Express Email

E-maiil Messages

From the Outlook Express menu select Tools | Options | Maintenance and click the StoreFolder button. You see a dialog with the name of the directory that has your mail files. If you look in that directory you find files named after your mail folders and news groups. They all have a .DBX suffix. Outlook Express keeps all messages in these database files. If you make copies of these files regularly, you'll have a safe backup of your OE mail.

Address Book

Getting the data out of your address book for safekeeping is relatively easy. From the menu select File | Export | Address Book and select the comma separated text file as your output format. Then select the fields you want to export. To make sure you know where the backup is going, give a full path name. To restore the address book or to get your addresses onto a new system, the process is not quite symmetrical. Select File | Import | Other address book and select the text file option again. You'll be given a list of fields to import.

How to Manually Back Up Your Outlook Email

Open Microsoft Outlook.

Click File, and then select Import and Export

Select Export to a file and click Next.

Select Personal Folders File .pst and click Next. If you dont see this option, scroll the option window down.

Then, select the folders you wish to backup. If you want to back up everything you have in Outlook, select your Mailbox Your Name as in the example below and check the Include subfolders box. Check Include subfolders if you have subfolders in any of your Mailbox areas that you wish to be included in your backup. When you're done, click Next.

Click the Browse button, and pick a location to save your file. Give your file a handy name, like Outlook Backup 1-3-2003. Click OK. Leave the Options as is. Click Finish.

Finally, type a handy name for your backup file in the Name Box. Also, select No Encryption. Click OK.

You now have a backup of your Outlook. You can save it on a recordable CD, Zip disk or external hard drive

Note: the archives can be fairly large.

To Open Your Backed-Up File in Outlook:

Click File, Open, Personal Folders File.pst

Browse your Hard Drive to find the backup file that you previously saved.

Click OK.

The folder will open up in the Folder List window of Outlook In this case, the archive was named Peter's Outlook Backup 1-6-2003 in step #7 of the backup process as listed above. You can now browse your backed-up archives, print, etc.

If you require more details on how the back up your e-mails?
You may want to read the following to Microsoft knowledge base articles.

Outlook Express Article

Microsoft Outlook Article

Official Sponsors

Event Productions

Address your questions or comments to geek@thecomputergeek.ca"

We are proud members of the