Outlook+back+it+up


 * Outlook back it up **

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**NOTE:** This tip is applicable only for MS Outlook 2007 and MS Outlook 2010. "system drive", is the drive where your OS is located


 * Creating a New File on a Separate Disk/Partition **

First, you need to create a new PST file for Outlook where you will copy all your existing data - mails, contacts, tasks, and more.

You need to create this file on a separate partition or on a different hard disk. To do this, follow these steps:-

1 Open **File** and click on **Export/Import** in MS Outlook 2007. In MS Outlook 2010, you will find the **Export** option under **File > Options**. Click on the **Advanced** option and then click on **Export**

2 In the window that appears, select **Export to a File** and click on **Next**.



3 In the next window, select **Outlook Data File (*.pst)** and click on **Next**.



4 In the next window, select the topmost option that says **Outlook**. You also see a triangle preceding it. If you click the triangle, you can see what all is being copied to the new file. Towards the bottom of the window, you can see an option saying **Include Subfolders**. Check/tick that box, so that all data is copied to the new file. Click **Next** to continue.



5. In the **Export Outlook Data File** window, click on **Browse** to select a location that is not on your system drive. Select a different partition that you think you will never need to format. If you have a secondary hard disk only for data storage, it is an even better option. Create a new folder named **Outlook** and save the file as **Outlook.pst**. Click on **Replace duplicates with Items exported** and click **Finish**.



This explains how to set up copying all your MS Outlook items to a different drive so that you do not lose any data even if you lose access to the system drive.

Now you have to set up MS Outlook so that all the new mail and other data is stored to this file by default.

**Setting up MS Outlook to Store Data to New File on Other Hard Disk/Partition**

Once you have formatted the system drive and reinstalled MS Outlook with your email accounts, you can go ahead and change settings so that MS Outlook stores all future data to the new, remote file created in the above section. Follow these steps:

1 Open MS Outlook and click on **Add New Accounts**. Select the **Data Files** tab.

You can see Outlook.pst and other files related to your email accounts. Remember that this Outlook.pst is not the one we created in the above section. This one is stored in the system folder, under your user profile. You can see the path in the dialog (ref to the image below). You can see a check mark next to it. This means that all new data will be added to this data file (But we will change this setting as we want all our future data to be delivered to the file we created).



2. Now you have to remove this Outlook.pst so that MS Outlook stores all data to the new Outlook.pst file you created on a separate partition/drive. Click on **Add** and browse to the location of new file. Select the new Outlook.pst and click on **OK**. This adds the new Outlook.pst to the **Data Files** dialog. At this point, the window will look something like this:



3. For all new data - contacts, task, pop mails, etc. - to be stored in this new Outlook file, you need to make it default. Select the new Outlook.pst (You can tell the difference by seeing its location in the window) and click on **Set as Default**. Close the window.



4. Now you have to remove the Outlook.pst created by MS Outlook as it is of no use and will confuse you.

To remove it, you need to close and reopen MS Outlook. After restart, open **Add Accounts** and again click on the **Data Files** tab so that you can view the data files.

You can see that your new Outlook.pst is now the default (there is a check/tick mark next to it). To remove the older Outlook.pst created by MS Outlook, select it and click **Remove**. MS Outlook will present you with a warning. Ignore it and click **OK**.



You are done configuring MS Outlook to deliver all new POP messages to the new Outlook file that you created on a different drive/disk. Any new task, contact, schedules you create are added to this new Outlook file.

Now, you can forget about backing up the contacts, mails, etc as they are not being stored on the system drive anymore.