WIN1020 November 2003

Backing up Microsoft Outlook Email For the PC Using MS Outlook 2000 Keith Roberts

INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 1

PREPARATION ....................................................................................................................... 1

BACKING UP EMAIL............................................................................................................. 2

RESTORING EMAIL FROM A PERSONAL FILE FOLDER........................................... 5

AUTO-ARCHIVE..................................................................................................................... 8

AUTO-ARCHIVE OPTIONS.................................................................................................... 9

RETRIEVING ARCHIVED ITEMS..................................................................................... 10

IMPORT ARCHIVED ITEMS INTO THEIR ORIGINAL FOLDERS ................................................ 11

IMPORT ARCHIVED ITEMS INTO A NEW FOLDER ................................................................. 13

MANUALLY COPYING OVER ITEMS FROM AN ARCHIVED FILE............................................ 16

ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE............................................................................................... 17

Introduction This document will provide a general overview of how to backup and archive your UH email using Microsoft Outlook 2000 on a Windows based PC. Preparation The first step to creating a backup of your email is to clean up its contents. Delete all email that you do not need or do not wish to have a backup of. Especially delete emails with attachments that you no longer need, to save disk space. The next step is to organize the emails you wish to backup into folders. You can create multiple folders to store related emails in one place. Organizing your email in this way will make it easier to restore the emails you may require at a later date.

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Backing up Email Once you have organized your email, you are ready to start the backing up process. To make a backup of an email folder, first launch the Outlook 2000 application. Then click on the File menu and select Import and Export… (See figure 1).

Figure 1 In the window that opens, choose the option Export to a file from the list of actions. Then click on the Next button to continue. (See figure 2).

Figure 2

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In the Create a file of type box, select Personal Folder File (.pst) and click the Next button to continue. See figure 3.

Figure 3 In the Select folder to export from box, select the folder you wish to make a backup of. In Figure 4 below, the folder named ITS Demo was selected. Click on the Next button to continue.

Figure 4

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In the next window that opens, Outlook asks for a location to save the exported file. Click on the Browse button to change the default location. Choose an easy to remember location, or save to your desktop for easy access. The latter option is especially desirable if you wish to later save your backup to removable media (CD, Zip, External HD, etc.). Be sure to give the exported file a descriptive name. In the Options section, choose the most appropriate option for your needs. Then click on the Finish button to continue. See Figure 5 below.

Figure 5 A new window will now open, asking you to create a Microsoft Personal Folder. Give the folder a descriptive name, such as UH Email Backup as in the sample figure below. Choose your encryption preference. Note: if you choose encryption, you must enter a password to open the file. Do not forget this password, or you will be unable to use the backup you created.

Choose No Encryption if you do not wish to password protect your email backup. This will allow others to open the file if they gain access to it. Choose Compressible Encryption to password protect your email backup. This will also compress the file, saving disk space. Choose Best Encryption to password protect your email backup. Figure 6

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That’s it. You have just created a backup of the selected email folder. You can repeat this process to backup other email folders if you wish. To free up disk space and your quota, you may delete the messages you backed up, or move them from your IMAP folder to your local hard drive. See the document Outlook 2000 and Your Quota that can be downloaded online from www.hawaii.edu/itsdocs/win/outlook-pc/ for more information. Restoring Email from a Personal File Folder At some point in the future, you may want to restore your email from one of the backups you made. This is a simple process that can be accomplished easily. To start the restoration process, first launch MS Outlook 2000. Then go to the File menu and select Import and Export… (See figure 7).

Figure 7 In the window that opens, select to Import from another program or file. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 8 below.

Figure 8

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In the following window, scroll down the list of file types and select Personal Folder File (.pst). Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 9.

Figure 9 Next, click on the Browse button to locate the Personal Folder File you wish to restore your email from. Select the appropriate option for your purposes. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 10.

Figure 10

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If you encrypted your Personal Folder File, enter the password to open the file. Then click on the OK button to continue. Note: you will not receive this dialogue box if you did not encrypt your backup. See figure 11.

Figure 11 Next, select the folder you want to import from. If the folder you backed up had subfolders, you may select just the subfolder to restore. You also have two options on where to import the folders too. You may choose to import the items into the current folder you have selected in Outlook 2000, or into the same folder that’s already created in your email account. In figure 12 below, the option was selected to restore the email into the same folder on the UH E-mail account.

Figure 12 That’s it. Outlook will import the email messages from the personal folder file and into the email folder you selected. These email messages will now be a part of your email.

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Auto-Archive Another option for creating a backup of your email folders is the Auto-Archive feature in Outlook. It is easy to use, and simple to setup. Auto-Archive will automatically move items deemed old (a preference set by you) to an archive file and remove it from your email folder. You have the ability to determine which folders are auto-archived, as well as the time that must pass before an item is deemed old. To start the Auto-Archive feature, first launch the MS Outlook application. Then click on the Tools menu, and select Options. In the window that opens, click on the Other tab. Finally, click on the AutoArchive button. See figure 13.

Figure 13

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In the window that opens, click on the AutoArchive checkbox. Specify the amount of time that must pass for the AutoArchive feature to run. You may also select the option to be prompted by Outlook before the AutoArchive feature is run. Be sure to note down the default archive file location. You may click the Browse button if you wish to change the default file location. Click the OK button to save your settings. Click the OK button on the Options window to return to the Outlook application. See figure 14.

Figure 14 AUTO-ARCHIVE OPTIONS You have the power to set the auto-archive options for every folder in your email account. To set the options for a particular folder, Right-click on the folder, and select Properties from the menu. In Figure 15, the Inbox was selected.

Figure 15

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Next, click on the AutoArchive tab. Configure the options as you see fit. You can choose to move the old items to an archive file, or to just delete the item all together. Click on the OK button to save your changes. See figure 16.

Figure 16 You may repeat this process for every mail folder you wish to set Auto-Archive options for. Retrieving Archived Items There may come a time in the future when you would like to restore the items in your archived file. You have several options to accomplish this. You can either restore the archived items back into your mailbox (in their original location), you can import the archived items into a new folder, or you can open the archived file, and manually copy over the items you need.

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IMPORT ARCHIVED ITEMS INTO THEIR ORIGINAL FOLDERS In Outlook, go to the File menu and select Import and Export. In the window that opens, choose the option Import from another program or file. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 17.

Figure 17 In the following window, scroll down the list of file types and select Personal Folder File (.pst). Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 18.

Figure 18

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Next, click on the Browse button to locate the Archived File you wish to restore your email from. Select the appropriate option for your purposes. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 19.

Figure 19 Next, select the Archive file you want to import from. Be sure to check the Include subfolders check box to ensure you restore all of your email. Then click on the option to Import items into the same folder in: to restore the messages back to their original locations before they were archived. Click on the Finish button to import the email. See figure 20.

Figure 20

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That’s it. Outlook will import the email messages from the archive file and place them back into their original locations. These email messages will now be a part of your email. IMPORT ARCHIVED ITEMS INTO A NEW FOLDER The first step to this process is to create a new folder in Outlook to save the archived items into. To do this, go to the File menu in Outlook, select New, and then click Folder. See figure 21.

Figure 21 Next, give the folder a name. In the Folder contains: text box, choose Mail Items. Then select where you would like to create the new folder. In Figure 22 below, the new folder named Archived Items was created at the root of the UH E-mail folder.

Figure 22

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After creating a new folder to save the archived items in, you are ready to import your archived file. To do this, first click once on the new folder you just created to select it. Then go to the File menu and select Import and Export. In the window that opens, choose the option Import from another program or file. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 23.

Figure 23 In the following window, scroll down the list of file types and select Personal Folder File (.pst). Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 24.

Figure 24

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Next, click on the Browse button to locate the Archived File you wish to restore your email from. Select the appropriate option for your purposes. Click on the Next button to continue. See figure 25.

Figure 25 Next, select the Archive file you want to import from. Be sure to check the Include subfolders check box to ensure you restore all of your email. Then click on the option to Import items into the current folder to restore the messages into the new folder you created. Click on the Finish button to import the email. See figure 26.

Figure 26

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That’s it. Outlook will import the email messages from the archive file and place them into the new folder you created. These email messages will now be a part of your email. MANUALLY COPYING OVER ITEMS FROM AN ARCHIVED FILE The final option for restoring email from an archived file is to open the archived file, and copying over only the items you wish to restore. To do this, go to the File menu, select Open, and then click Personal Folders File (.pst). See figure 27.

Figure 27 Then browse to the location of your Archived file. Select it, and click on the Open button. Outlook will then place it in your Folder list. You can then open it, and copy over just the items you wish to move over by simply clicking and dragging the item to the desired location. Alternatively, you can simply view the items while they are in the archived folder. When you are finished with the archived file, you can Right-click on the archived file and click Close “Archive Folders” to remove the archive file from your folder list. See figure 28.

Figure 28

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Additional Assistance

For additional assistance, please phone the ITS Help Desk at (808) 956-8883,

send e-mail to help@hawaii.edu, or fax (808) 956-2108. The Help Desk’s toll-free phone number is (800) 558-2669.

Or visit the ITS Help Desk home page at http://www.hawaii.edu/help

The ITS Help Desk functions are located in Keller 105, Keller 213,

and Sinclair 122 (CLIC Lab) on the UH Mānoa Campus.

The University of Hawai‘i is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

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