How to Back up Data Items in Microsoft Outlook 2010?

Be it is about emails or other items in your email client, taking backup of everything just works magically. If you use MS Outlook as your primary email client, you might have faced various issues and error messages that restrict you from continuing your work. Whatever be the reason, the consequence is same as you lose access to all the Outlook data in all cases and it directly affects business productivity. If you have been a professional for a long time, you understand the importance of backup that seems to be the biggest helper in negative scenarios.

In order to save your job, it is a good practice for regularly backing up all email data so that you do not lose a single piece of critical information. Today, Outlook 2010 is one of the applications organizations are deploying rapidly. The post brings you all essential steps to back up emails in Outlook 2010; perform the following:

•    Go to the 'File' tab.
•    Click 'Options'.
•    Click 'Advanced'.
•    Click 'Export' under Export. You can also open 'Import and Export Wizard' from the 'File' tab by clicking 'Open', and then clicking 'Import'.
•    Click 'Export to a file'.
•    Click 'Next'.
•    Click 'Outlook Data File (.pst).
•    Click 'Next'.
•    Select the account and the the top-level folder. It will export emails, contacts, notes, calendar, and tasks for the selected account. Check whether the 'Include subfolders' checkbox is checked; if not, select it.
•    Click 'Next'.
•    Click 'Browse' to select a location where you wish to place the created .pst file. Give a name to the file, and then click 'OK'. Note that if you have performed the same procedure before, it will show the previous location and name of the file. Change the file name, if you want to bring all the data in a new file, or continue with the existing file, if you want to add the data to it.
•    If you choose to export to existing file, specify what you want to do with duplicate items.
•    Click 'Finish'.

Note: If you choose to create a new file, there is an option to create a password. You will see a 'Create Outlook Data File' dialog; enter the password in respective fields and click 'OK'. If you export to the existing file, it is already password-protected. To unlock, enter the password in 'Outlook Data File Password' dialog, and then click 'OK'.

Though the method described above is very effective but this process might fail in some cases; so if you do not find the desired results with the given procedure, opt for a professional Mail backup application.