Businesses today depend on emails for communication. In such a case, losing access to them can be ruinous. Email accounts contain loads of crucial data. You can lose not just emails but important attachments, contacts, and even calendar dates if anything goes wrong. Creating a backup can be as easy as shifting the data from your system to the backup drive. But it can get a bit complicated for people to create email backups. When you know how to backup Outlook emails, you’ll gain the peace of mind that your emails are there in numerous locations on your system. So, they won’t get lost. In this article, you’ll learn the different ways to backup your Outlook emails.
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How to Backup Outlook Emails?
One of the best methods to backup all your Outlook emails is to utilize the applications integrated .pst file format. PST files are used by MS Outlook and Exchange to keep emails, contact data, calendar events, and addresses. You can use a static PST file as a backup for your existing Outlook emails and contact data. Outlook can access it even in offline mode. Here’s how to backup Outlook email onto a .pst file.
- Launch Outlook and hit ‘File.’
- Choose ‘’Open & Export’ in the menu.
- Next, tap the button ‘Import/Export.’
- You will find your primary Outlook screen and the popup import/export Wizard. It will guide you through the whole export process.
- Opt for ‘Export to a file’ in the Wizard and tap ‘Next.’
- Select ‘Outlook Data file (.pst) when you are requested to choose a file type. After that, click ‘Next.’
- Now you will be asked to choose the folders to export. Choose your email account to export folders related to it. Tap ‘Next’ after you’ve chosen it.
- Choose the address path where the backup file is saved. You can also modify the last part of the file name.
- Now choose if you desire duplicate items if you are saving the backup file in its default path.
- Hit ‘Finish’ to commence the exporting process.
- You’ll be prompted to make a password. But there’s no need to enter it.
- Locate the extracted file in your specified location. Now you are free to move it elsewhere.
Backup your Outlook emails through the drag-and-drop method
It’s simple to make a PST file with the Microsoft tools. But you can only use it to back up a full folder. You cannot separately access the emails. Using the drag-and-drop method, you can save individual emails and access them anytime. To understand how to save emails from Outlook through this method, follow the steps below.
- Launch Outlook and Windows File Explorer. You require to have both of them on your system for this method.
- Choose the email you wish to backup. If you wish to choose multiple emails at a time, hold the ‘Control’ key down.
- ‘Drag and drop’ the emails you have selected into the desired folder where you wish to keep them.
Steps for Accessing Exported Emails in Outlook
It’s easy to open backups in Outlooks and restore your emails to the saved moment. Now that you know how to backup all Outlook emails, you must also know the method to access them. Follow the steps below.
- Locate the backup file. Remember, it’s file path and location.
- Launch Outlook and hit ‘File.’ Then tap on ‘Open & Export.’
- Choose ‘Open Outlook Data File’ in the menu on the right side.
- The File Explorer will open up. Navigate to the backup file. Tap on it and choose ‘Open.’
- You’ll now return to the main Outlook screen.
- On the navigation menu, go down till you view ‘Outlook Data.’
- This category has the items restored from the backup file. It keeps intact the initial folder systems and formatting. You can now drag and drop emails to shift them to other files.
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How to Save a Single Outlook Email?
Do you desire to get rid of the whole process of saving emails and opening MS Outlook again when you only require a couple of emails? Well, you can use some resolutions to save a single email from MS Outlook.
Save to a folder directly.
It is the first method you can employ to save a single Outlook email. Open Outlook and follow these points.
- Launch ‘File Explorer’ and go to where you desire to save the emails. You may require to place File Explorer and Outlook in windowed mode and shift them for better access.
- Drag the email you wish to save from MS Outlook to the folder.
- The Outlook application will keep the email in an Outlook Item format.\
- Lastly, double-tap the saved email to view it in Outlook.
Save an email as TXT or HTML.
You can also save a single email as TXT or HTML. Open the email you desire to save in MS Outlook. Now follow the process explained below.
- Select ‘File’ followed by ‘Save as.’
- You’ll view the ‘File Explorer.’ Now choose the path where you desire to keep the email. At its bottom, tap the arrow beside ‘Save as type.’ Choose either ‘Text Only’ or ‘HTML.’
- After the email is saved, you can access it using a text editor like notepad. If you have saved it as .html, you can access it through the browser.
When you save your emails with this method, it doesn’t keep any attachments intact. So, ensure you are downloading them, renaming them, and saving them.
Read Also- How To Fix Outlook Cannot Open Set Of Folders Error?
Final Words
After reading this article, you won’t find any difficulty in backup Outlook emails. Just follow the various instructions in this post, and you are good to go. But you don’t need to worry if you cannot follow the points and backup your Outlook emails. You can take professional assistance for it as well. The Outlook customer service experts will guide you through this entire process.
