The Personal Folders file (.pst) of Microsoft Outlook is one of the most important files on your computer that stores offline copies of all your email messages, calendar appointments, contacts, tasks and other Outlook items. [PST = Personal Storage Table]
Whether you download emails from Gmail Inbox to Outlook or sync Google Calendar with Outlook Calendar, everything gets saved in a PST file on your hard drive. It is therefore extremely important that you regularly backup your Outlook PST files so as not to lose any data in the event of a computer crash.
Though you can create a backup copy of your Outlook .pst files using the Import and Export wizard in Outlook, that’s slightly cumbersome and puts some pressure on your memory since it’s for you to remember the date when you have run the same backup process again.
To save you from this backup stress, Microsoft has a free Outlook add-in called Personal Folders Backup that works with all versions of Outlook and weighs just 160 kb.
This tool can backup all your PST files in a single click and will automatically remind you to perform a backup after ‘x’ number of days. The same tools can also be used to restore Outlook data from previous backups.
The Personal Folders Backup tool has been available since long but the new version that’s released today includes support for Outlook 2007.
Related: Export Outlook PST mails to Gmail
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/backup-outlook-pst-personal-folders-files-regularly/3214/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Thanks for the update Amit. That really is a healthy tip for backing up Outlook PSTs’.
The method I use for backing up my PST on Microsoft Exchange Server is very simple and doesn’t need one’s attention at all except while setting up, which is a 1 minute task. More importantly, no add-on programs are required.
I have 2 filters, rather say Rules as they are addressed in Outlook lingo, that back up my PST on-the-fly. One rule is for incoming messages (Inbox) and the other is for…you guessed, outgoing (Sent). They both keep doing their job as long as Outlook is running. And they do their job on-the-fly…no scheduling, no forgets, no regrets. It’s a one time setup > apply > ok > forget about them.
Written by DWiner on 05.08.08
Microsoft has had this program since Office 2000 and I’ve been using it since! It’s small and works well for me!
Written by Aseem Kishore on 05.08.08
I have Office 2007 running of Vista Ultimate 32bit.
I installed (uninstalled and reinstalled) the add-in but the File- Menu. item does not appear in Outlook.
It’s too bad. I had hoped to recommend this as an easy backup tool.
Written by Richard on 05.08.08
Thanks for the info; I get dozens of daily email feeds, and though I save to folders, the pst folders software would be most useful…
Written by pcsourcepoint on 05.08.08
Amit, Not a techie in your sense, but love these small tit bits that make life simple & allow me to become more lazy. Keep the good work going mate!
Written by Anaggh Desai on 05.13.08
I used pfbackup for a year and it worked great. I had to reformat my HDD a month ago and reinstall everything. Now I cannot get “backup” to appear in Outlook even though I have installed/uninstalled/reinstalled the program numerous times. How can I fix this?
Written by Scott H on 08.14.08
I have been saving my pst file without problem for years. All of a sudden, my pst back up file is now being saved as a word doc, which is unable to be opened becuase it is too big. I have removed and reinstalled the pst back up file twice, still the problem exists.
Can anyone help?
thanks
Written by Bill on 08.20.08
Outlook.psd back up does not work with 2007. I lost all my contact list, calendar, to do list and a lot of email.
I needed to reformat my hard drive, so before that I made sure to copy Outlook.psd to an external hard drive. In addition to that I did have a copy of back up of outlook 2007 too. After reformatting, I imported the .psd and to my surprise there was nothing in it. This happens to me 2 times since I strated using Office 2007.
Written by Mo on 11.11.08
This tool does not work with Vista 32 bit …get a Mac and use Time Machine
Written by Bob on 12.03.08