How to Create a PST Backup File
Microsoft Outlook is a powerful organization and data management tool. It easily organizes your contacts, emails, tasks and more and is one of the most popular programs of its type.
Outlook uses PST files, to store and organize this data so that it is easy to access in a variety of ways and can be archived for long term storage. Since the PST file is the lifeblood of the information stored within the program, losing such data files could be a costly catastrophe.
One thing you can do to prevent the loss of your data is to create a .pst backup regularly which you can then use to replace a corrupt or unrecoverable file. Here we will show you how you can back up a PST file which is saved on your computer. These instructions are not for files which are stored on a Microsoft Exchange Server.
Locate the File
You will need to locate the PST file you want to back up. If you have created more than one .pst file, each file will need to be backed up separately. To locate your file go to the start menu and open the control panel. If it is not clearly visible you can open the RUN command and type CONTROL PANEL into the search box (see below).
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Select OK. The Control Panel will appear. Navigate to USER ACCOUNTS and then to MAIL. You should see a box similar to this:
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Click on ‘Data Files’. It will take you to a screen which outlines all of the paths to your Outlook Data Files.
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The common file path is ‘Personal Folders’ by default. Select the Personal Folders path and select the ‘Open Folder’ button. This will open the folder which contains your PST files. These files should have the following symbol next to them ? and are identified as an Office Data File in the type field. Again, the most common storage file is outlook.pst.
Backup the File
Now that you have located the file, you want to create a backup copy of the file. To do this simply select the outlook.pst file and then choose ‘Copy this file’ to the left.
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Choose the location you wish to copy the file to. This can be a removable storage device or another location on your drive. Do not save the backup copy in the same folder as it will conflict with the current file. It must be saved in a different location.
Now you have a backup copy of the data file should your original file become corrupt and you are unable to repair it.
You should backup your data files regularly. How often you make a backup copy will depend on your activity. Your backup copy will only have the data stored up to the point in time when you create the backup. Anything added to Outlook after that backup date will not be recoverable, so it is important to backup regularly.
