Without a doubt the most popular email client used in a small business is Microsoft Outlook. As it plays a key role in our daily business tasks it becomes essential that regular backups are performed.
There are lots of different methods in making sure MS Outlook is regularly backed but with most tasks it’s a manual process. On this post I will discuss how to backup Microsoft Outlook using our internet backup solution, Connected.
Using Connected Online Backup daily backups can be done with the Outlook PST file and requires no intervention by the user. Not only are you automating the backup process for the Outlook PST file when using the Connected application you are also ensuring your data is secured offsite.
Why Backup Microsoft Outlook Data files
A single user in an office can generate a lot of critical data via MS Outlook and such data would include: messages, contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, and journal entries. Loss of this critical data can be costly and very time consuming for any business so it’s essential that regular Outlook backups are performed.
Under Microsoft Article 287070 its states you can do the following if you backup your Outlook data:
- Restore data that is lost or damaged because of a hardware failure.
- Restore data that has been lost because on unexpected events.
- Move or transfer data to a different hard disk drive that is either located on the same computer or on a different computer.
- Move or transfer data to a from the original hard disk drive to a hard disk drive that is located on a different computer.
How to Backup MS Outlook Data Files
Most users of Outlook that I speak with have no idea what a PST file is or where it’s located on their hard drive. They are also not aware that Outlook contains other files (personal settings) that also are included into the backup.
The first step in creating a backup for Outlook is to find the location of the PST on your hard drive. To do this follow:
Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook and click on File on the top tool bar.
Step 2: Click on ‘Data Management’ to go into the data files options. In here you can find the location of the PST file, see below screen shot under ‘Filename’. As you can see from the below image the full path of the PST file is not shown, you need to expand the Filename column for the full path or click on ‘Open Folder’ to see where its located.
The full path of the Outlook PST file should show something like:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
NOTE Administrator on the above path is the username for my home PC, this may be different on your computer.
Windows Vista users can expect to find their data file located under:
C:\Users\< username >\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
Step 3: If your Outlook PST file is large you may want to perform compression to reduce its size but as Connected Online Backup already performs compression this step is optional. In the outlook Data Files window highlight the data file you wish to compress and click onto ‘Options’.
In the options screen you can change the password for your Outlook file or Compact the file. We are only interested in compression at this point so click onto the Compact Now button to start the process – thats it!
Extra! Extra!
If you are anything like me I’ll assume you use MS Outlook a lot and without a doubt create a lot of data increasing the overall size of the PST file. Unknown to most the PST file size can be drastically reduced by taking a number of small steps that I recommend you turn into a daily habit – it usually takes 10 minutes of my time to complete these steps.
Clean out the Junk Folder – The junk folder within Outlook can do a good job at collecting spam but it can also catch emails that we trust and need. Check the Junk Folder daily for trusted emails and move them back into the inbox, delete the Junk Folder of all unwanted emails.
Delete non critical emails – Its up to you what you would deem non critical emails but for me its any email that’s NOT business related. If I want to send a personal email and not waste company resources (storage space) I tend to use Google Gmail which is a free online email service.
Delete Sent Items – I am not going to recommend you delete every sent item simply because I find it too useful to keep a record of my previously sent business emails. I do however check and see if there are sent items that I can delete and everyday there usually is. If you don’t track your previous sent items feel free to delete them and save more space.
Empty Deleted Items – Before I close Outlook at the end of each day I make sure to check inside the Deleted Items and if its safe I’ll empty this folder. Even if we delete emails they still reside in Deleted Items consuming storage space on the hard drive. Making sure to empty Deleted Items will reduce the amount of space Outlook is consuming.
The above 4 tips can help reduce the overall size of your PST file saving more hard drive space and reducing the size of the file that needs backed up. But of course when you perform a manual backup of the PST file you do have the option to skips these folders.
Now You Are ready To Backup Microsoft Outlook PST Files
Once you have gone through the above steps you are now ready to create a backup of the Outlook PST file using the C Infinity Connected Agent.
If you are a C Infinity customer and need any help finding the location of your Outlook PST file contact our support desk for more assistance.
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