We’ve noticed over the years that many people never get around to backing up their Outlook eMail, Calendar or Contacts and its more out of a fear of ‘screwing something up’ than willful neglect. Email is the engine that drives our lives and as complex as the Outlook interface can be it may just seem more risky to tinker than to remain idle and hope for the best. Let’s dispel any fears you may have with a two minute tutorial.

Select File --> Options and then choose Advanced from the left sub menu and finally the Export button from within the Export section. The last selection should bring up a window labeled ‘Import and Export Wizard’ choose ‘Export to a file’ from the list and click Next. From the following window select Outlook Data File (.pst file extension) and click Next again.

By the looks of the next window it appears we are finally getting somewhere. You will see your eMail boxes, Calendar, Contacts and other Outlook folders in a directory tree that extends from your primary account. In order to backup your entire account, select the top most directory and click Next. Select the Browse button in order to save your .pst file to an external hard drive or in a folder to add to your normal data backup set.

The interfaces we’ve just traversed remain largely unchanged from Outlook 2007 and the same process should work for that version. Regardless of your version and the successful export of your .pst file, it is still highly recommended that you include this file as well as any other important files in a remote data backup set and upload it to offsite storage at regular intervals. Having online access to your data backups is crucial during a crisis.