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How to Backup Outlook & Outlook Express 

How to Backup Outlook

Outlook is probably the most powerful and versatile data management out there. Your address book, appointments, to-do lists, memos and more are stored in one place...it has never been easier to be organized. With all of your important information in one location, wouldn't you want to make sure that it is backed up just in case something happens? The truth is most people don't yet it is so easy to do.

All of the information in Outlook is stored in a single file called, "outlook.pst"...this is the file that is backed up during this process. Know where it is located on your hard drive at all times. Here is how to  backup your data in Outlook:

1. Open Outlook and click on Import and Export from the File menu

2. Click on Export to a File then next.

3. Click on Personal Folder File (pst) then next

4. Click on Personal Folders at the top of the list or select just one item to backup...like your Contacts. For now just back up everything by choosing Personal Folders. Make sure to click on the checkmark next to INCLUDE SUBFOLDERS! Then next.

5. Click on Browse to select a location on your hard drive to store your pst file...write it down.

6. Click on Finish

How to Backup Outlook Express

Step 1: Copy message files to a backup folder

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. Click Tools, and then click Options.
3. On the Maintenance tab, click Store Folder.
4. In the Store Location dialog box, copy the store location. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Put the mouse pointer at one end of the box under the Your personal message store is located in the following folder box.
   2. Press and hold the left mouse button, and then drag the mouse pointer across the Your personal message store is located in the following folder box.
   3. Press CTRL+C to copy the location.
5. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog box.

1. Click Start, click Run, press CTRL+V, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy, and then close the window.

1. Right-click any empty area on your desktop, click New, and then click Folder.
2. Type Mail Backup for the folder name, and then press ENTER.

1. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.
2. Right-click inside the Mail Backup folder window, and then click Paste.

Step 2: Export the Address Book to a .csv file

1. On the File menu, click Export, and then click Address Book.
2. Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
3. Click Browse.
4. Select the Mail Backup folder that you created.
5. In the File Name box, type address book backup, and then click Save.
6. Click Next.
7. Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click Finish.
8. Click OK, and then click Close.

Step 3: Export the mail account to a file

1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. On the Mail tab, click the mail account that you want to export, and then click Export.
3. In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
4. Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to export.
5. Click Close.

Step 4: Export the newsgroup account to a file

1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. On the News tab, click the news account that you want to export, and then click Export.
3. In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
4. Repeat these steps for each news account that you want to export.
5. Click Close.

How to Restore Outlook Express Items

Step 1: Import messages from the backup folder

1. On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Messages.
2. In the Select an e-mail program to import from box, click Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or Microsoft Outlook Express 6, and then click Next.
3. Click Import mail from an OE5 store directory or Import mail from an OE6 store directory, and then click OK.
4. Click Browse, and then click the Mail Backup folder.
5. Click OK, and then click Next.
6. Click All folders, click Next, and then click Finish.

Step 2: Import the Address Book file

1. On the File menu, click Import, and then click Other Address Book.
2. Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Import.
3. Click Browse.
4. Select the Mail Backup folder, click the address book backup.csv file, and then click Open.
5. Click Next, and then click Finish.
6. Click OK, and then click Close.

Step 3: Import the mail account file

1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
2. On the Mail tab, click Import.
3. In the Look In box, select the Mail Backup folder.
4. Click the mail account that you want to import, and then click Open.
5. Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to import.
6. Click Close.

Outlook Express Email vs Outlook Email

Outlook Express
Outlook Express is the e-mail client that is included with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x & later. Outlook Express is designed for home users who gain access to their e-mail messages by dialing in to an Internet service provider (ISP).

Built on open Internet standards, Outlook Express is designed for use with any Internet standard system, for example, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), and Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP). It provides full support for today's most important e-mail, news, and directory standards such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension Hypertext Markup Language (MHTML), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), and Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). Full support ensures that you can take advantage of new technologies as well as seamlessly send and receive e-mail.

New migration tools that automatically import your existing mail settings, address book entries, and e-mail messages from Eudora, Netscape, Microsoft Exchange Server, the Windows Inbox, and Outlook make it easy for you to quickly take advantage of all that Outlook Express has to offer. The ability to receive mail from multiple e-mail accounts, as well as the ability to create Inbox rules, helps you manage and organize your e-mail.

Outlook
Outlook is Microsoft's premier messaging and collaboration client. It is a stand-alone application that is integrated into Microsoft Office and Exchange Server. Outlook also provides performance and integration with Internet Explorer 5.5. Complete integration of e-mail, calendaring, and contact management, makes Outlook the perfect client for many business users.

Outlook helps you find and organize information so that you can work seamlessly with Office applications. This helps you communicate and share information more effectively.

Powerful Inbox rules enable you to filter and organize e-mail messages. With Outlook, you can integrate and manage e-mail from multiple e-mail accounts, personal and group calendars, contacts, and tasks.

When you use Outlook with Exchange Server, you can use workgroup information sharing and workflow communications, group scheduling, public folders, forms, and enhanced Internet connectivity.

Outlook is designed for use with the Internet (SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4), Exchange Server, or any other standards-based communication system that supports Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), including voice mail. Outlook is based on Internet standards and supports today's most important e-mail, news, and directory standards, including LDAP, MHTML, NNTP, MIME, and S/MIME, vCalendar, vCard, iCalendar, and full support for HTML mail.

Outlook also offers the same import tools that are offered with Outlook Express. This enables easy migration from other e-mail clients, and offers further migration from Microsoft Mail, Microsoft Schedule+ 1.0, Microsoft Schedule+ 7.0, Lotus Organizer, NetManage ECCO, Starfish SideKick, Symantec ACT, as well as synchronization with leading Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), such as the 3Com Palm Pilot.

You can also use Microsoft's Outlook Scheduled Backup Reminder Utility

Instructions

Note: Personal Folders Backup only backs up .pst files. If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox, make sure your server admin regularly backs up your server mailbox folders.

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Outlook Configuration File Locations

(source: Microsoft)

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Outlook Secure Temp Files Folder

Background: When you open attachments on email directly from Outlook, a copy is written to a temporary folder on your hard drive so your the virus scanner can check it before it is opened. The folder Outlook writes this temp file to is under the Temporary Internet Files folder where IE writes pages to when you surf the internet. This offers more security as only your user account and the computer administrator account can view the files under this folder. The only way to avoid "losing" attachments in this well hidden folder is to save them to your hard drive, before opening. Few people do this (myself included).

These files are supposed to be deleted when you close the opened attachment, however this only happens if you keep the email message the attachment arrived on remains open - this is either an opened message in a new window or in the reading pane. When the message is closed (or you wait to preview another message) after the attachment is closed, the temporary file is deleted from the SecureTemp folder. If you close the open message or display another Outlook  item in the reading pane but leave the attachment open, the temp file is not deleted when you close the attachment.

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Outlook> Distribution Lists

Outlook> Sharing using Net Folders

You can use Outlook to "Share" your any of your Folders such as your Contacts, Calendar, and others.

Overview:

Share Outlook 98/2000 Folders by Using Net Folders

In Microsoft Outlook98+, you can share folders you create on your computer with anyone on the Internet or on your corporate network by using Net Folders. When you share a Net Folder, a copy of the shared folder, including all its contents, is created in the Outlook Folder List of each person that you want to share with. For example, you might want to have a workgroup folder that holds your group's calendar or task list. So, if you share a folder called Team, each person that you share with (called a folder member) will have a Team folder added to their Folder List. Any item you put into the Team folder on your computer is automatically sent to the Team folder of every member. And when the Team members add information into their calendar it sent all the other members of the team and dropped into the shared folder. (When you choose someone as a member of a shared folder, they receive an e-mail message that describes the folder and asks them if they want to subscribe to it.)

You can use Net Folders to broadcast messages to numerous people and to receive and distribute their replies in much the same way that an e-mail list server does. Items that folder members change or add to the Net Folder are updated first in your owner folder and then sent to folder members.

Important  If you're using Outlook 98 or higher, you will need to install the Net Folders feature. For more information about installing Net Folders, type set up Net Folders in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Help window, and then click Search.

• Yes, You Can Use Net Folders with Exchange Server.

• No Windows XP does not support Netfolders (can't believe Microsoft dropped this powerful feature)

If you're using Microsoft Exchange Server, you can use Net Folders to share folders you create that are stored on your computer. You can't share Outlook folders, such as your Calendar folder, that are stored on the Exchange server. Exchange Offline Folders also cannot be shared by using Net Folders.

Share Any Type of Outlook Item

In addition to e-mail messages, you can share any other Outlook item, such as calendars, tasks, contacts, or even notes, as long as they aren't stored on the Exchange server. E-mail messages can be viewed by any person you can send e-mail to; however, Outlook items other than e-mail messages can be viewed only by Outlook 2000+ users, or by Outlook 98 users who've installed Net Folders.

Choose How Much Access Each Person Has

As the owner of the Net Folder, you decide what kind of access each member will have. When you share a folder, you assign a permission level to each member. For example, the Editor permission allows a folder member to add new items or to change existing items in the Net Folder, but Reviewer access only allows the folder member to read items.

Customize Options

As the folder owner, you can set options that control the Net Folder. You can determine how often added items and changes to items in the folder are sent to folder members. And you can determine how big an update can be. You also can remove folder members, change their permission levels, or stop sharing a folder at any time.

Key Points Before you Begin:

Make sure all of the following are in place before starting your Net Folder session. It will be a chore to undo if you do this after the fact.

• All users must have Outlook 98 or 2000. It will not work with Office XP. For some reason that I will never understand, Microsoft discontinued this valuable service in Office XP.
• All users must have the Corporate & Workgroup version of Outlook 2000 installed or it will not work. To check click on the Tools menu in Outlook. If you see Services there it is already installed. If you see Accounts it is not. To correct this click on Tools/Options and on the Mail Services tab click on Reconfigure Mail Support. You will see it on the next screen. Follow the prompts.
• Make sure all recipients who you will send invitations are in your Contacts. Also make sure they are set as Rich Text Format by right clicking on the email address and clicking the checkmark.
• It is best to create a new folder rather than using the default Calendar or Contacts. 
• Familiarize yourself with the Phone List View...it makes it much easier. To make a new folder RIGHT click on the Contacts for example and click on New Folder. 
• To share this newly created folder: Select the folder you created above. Then go to the File menu and choose Share--->This Folder
• Once the folder is shared, RIGHT click on it and go to Properties. On the Sharing tab, set Updates for every 5 minutes, and make sure "Size can not exceed" to 2MB.
• On the Auto Archive tab, choose Clean out every month or two. Net Folders can not exceed 2 Mb in size. If it is larger than that it will stop working. This archiving prevents that from happening. (Note: As a point of reference, my Outlook file is very large and contains thousands of contacts yet my Shared Folder is still under 1Mb)
• Large databases: If you have a very large Contacts folder you wish to share, you may want to either consider Archiving it before you set up the Net Folder sharing, or create a NEW Contacts folder to share, copy the contacts in lots of 300 or so and wait for them to update to all recipients. Then copy the next block of 300. (I had to do this once when sharing a database of 2700 contacts....the only way it would work.)

Other Good Things to Know

• The Outlook folders Inbox and Outbox cannot be shared by using Net Folders.
• If you're using an IMAP server, you cannot create a shared folder by using Net Folders.
• You can share e-mail items by means of Net Folders with folder members who use Outlook 97 or other e-mail programs, with these differences:
  • These members receive Net Folder items in their Inboxes, because folders are not created.
  • You must set the permissions of these members to Minimum.
  • These members cannot receive Outlook items other than e-mail messages, such as Calendar items or contacts.
• Population of the information will take a little time...be patient. You will notice it starting to fill in.
• Information is synchronized in both directions.
• Shared folders will only work with 20 users or less

Also see Troubleshooting Net Folders for more info before proceeding

Important  Net Folders are not secure, which means that even if you're using a secure e-mail system, your Net Folder messages can be intercepted and read by anyone.

Before you begin:

• Make sure that all users that you plan on sharing with are already in your Main Contacts. During set up it will ask you to select the users. It sometimes causes problems if you can not select them from an existing list.

• Outlook Address Book must be installed. Check under Tools/Services.

To Set up Sharing:

1. Select the Folder in Outlook that you wish to "Share"...Contacts for example. We will call the person who is sharing the folder the "Host"
   
2. Click on the File menu and choose Share This Folder or choose one from the list.
   
3. You will be prompted by a Wizard which will walk you through the process of selecting users you wish to share this folder with as well as permission settings. We will call them the "Clients"
   
4. Important: To avoid problems with setup, make sure you send the all contacts in Rich Text Format. Set this BEFORE you send the first invitation: Open contact in Outlook of the first Client. Double click on the E-mail address inside the contact form...... appears as underlined. Then select the Always send to this recipient in Microsoft Outlook rich-text format check box. To address the invitation, run the Net Folders Wizard using the contact you created. Get in the habit of checking this when you make future contacts.
   
5. Once setup is complete each Client in your list will be sent an "Invitation" to accept the Sharing. Once accepted they will be sharing the contents of this folder. This is a special email and you must click on the ACCEPT button on the bottom right of that mail to set this up correctly. If you do not it will not work. A shared folder with the same name will appear in each Client's Outlook that you sent an invitation to. When the Host makes changes to the shared folder, an invisible email will be sent with an attachment that automatically posts itself to that folder. And vice versa.
   
6. Example. If the Host creates a shared Calendar folder, when he or she adds an appointment to the calendar, an invisible email is generated and will appear in your Outbox to be sent. The next time you Send & Receive to process your mail it will be sent along with it. The client will receive this invisible email with an attachment of the new appointment. It will be dropped in the calendar of the Client....automatically.
   
7. To change any permissions....simply repeat the steps above to re-launch the Wizard. All users you have already set up will still be there. Simply select the user at that step and set permissions.

More Help:

• More Info on Net Folders see Article# Q195867 OL2000: How to Use Net Folders
• For Troubleshooting Net Folders see Article # Q229962 or visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base
• Live tutorial from Microsoft goes through step by step

Junk Mail Filtering / Filter Outlook Spam

Outlook makes it easy to filter out unwanted junk mail or adult content. By setting up ‘Rules” you can send unwanted solicitation to the recycle bin with the right click of your mouse. Right click “Send to Junk Senders List. The next time this sender tries to send you mail...it launches them right into the trash before making it to your inbox.

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Outlook as well as all of the office products have a Detect & Repair utility right on the Help menu. It may require that you insert your MS Office CD while in progress so have it handy. It will search the current office program and check for inconsistencies or other issues and correct the problem if it is with the software. So if your Outlook is hanging up or doing something out of the ordinary and you have already checked for viruses, Outlook may have become corrupt and this may take care of it for you.

Outlook Rules Wizard

The Rules Wizard helps you manage your e-mail messages by using "Rules" to automatically perform actions on messages. After you create a rule, Microsoft Outlook applies the rule when messages arrive in your Inbox or when you send a message. For example, you can automatically:

• Forward all messages sent by Judy Smith to your manager when they arrive in your inbox.
• Assign the category Sales to all messages that have the word "sales" in the Subject box when you send messages.

You can add exceptions to your rules for special circumstances, such as when a message is flagged for follow-up action or is marked with high importance. A rule is not applied to a message if any one of the exceptions you specify is met.

You can turn on or off the rules you create and change the order in which the rules are applied.

You can also run rules manually. When you run rules manually, you can apply them to messages already in your inbox or in another folder.

Meeting requests, task requests, and documents

The Rules Wizard treats meeting requests, task requests, and documents as messages. So you can create a rule that moves items with the word "meeting" in the Subject box, and any task request or meeting request that fulfills that criterion is moved. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when creating rules that affect these types of items:

• If an item is moved to a non-mail folder, it might not work. For example, if a message is moved to the Calendar, a new appointment is not created.
• If a meeting or task response is moved to the Deleted Items folder by using a rule, the tracking in the original item is not updated.
• If a meeting request is moved to the Deleted Items folder, the meeting is not added to the Calendar.
• You cannot flag a meeting or task request by using a rule.
• Rules made to be applied when you send a message are not applied to task requests and meeting requests.

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Also See: Outlook and AOL | Outlook Quick Parts Not Saving | Increase default size limit of Outlook PST files

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