Backing up Microsoft Outlook PST files

Introduction

This article describes how to locate and backup Microsoft Outlook files.

The Personal Folder file (.pst / PST) is the place where Outlook stores its data (when you're using Outlook without Microsoft® Exchange Server).

Each Personal Folder file contains all of your Outlook folders, including the Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts. You may have a single .pst file (usually called "Internet Folders" or "Personal Folders" in your Folder List), and you may also have an additional .pst file that you use to archive messages (named "Archive Folders"). By backing up these PST files you will be backing up all your Outlook information.

You can find the location of the main PST file by right-clicking on the Outlook Today icon found in your Outlook shortcuts, or the Outlook Today icon found in your folder list and then left-clicking "Properties".

Once the Properties dialog box is displayed, click the "Advanced" button.

The "Path..." shown indicates where your Personal Folder file can be found. Write this path down and navigate to the designated folder (Outlook in this example)

OR

Use your mouse cursor to copy (CTRL + C) and paste (CTRL + V) the path into Windows Explorer. Then, delete the "outlook.pst" at the end of the path and press the "Enter" key on your keyboard. Explorer will automatically open the folder containing your Personal Folder.

Within the folder you should find an outlook.pst file. You can now create a profile in SyncBackSE/Pro that recognizes this file as the source.

Open Files

Note that SyncBackSE/Pro can copy open / locked files, but SyncBackFree cannot. This means when copying your Outlook data files with SyncBackFree you must close Outlook (and any programs that may also be using the file, e.g. Copernicus or Google Desktop Search) before running your profile. You can configure your profile to Auto-close Outlook, but it cannot close programs like Copernicus and Google Desktop Search as they are services and not applications. A workaround is to have a Run Before program to stop the service (net stop servicename), and a Run After program to restart the service (net start servicename). To see which program has a file open search the KnowledgeBase.

Outlook Express

For Outlook Express, search the KnowledgeBase.