An important part of working with a computer system is ensuring that you protect any critical data against loss. You protect your data by making a backup, a copy of the information that you can store on another disk or on a backup tape. In the event of a critical failure, you can then use this copy to replace or restore any lost information.
Outlook 2007 stores information in two primary ways: in a set of personal folders or in an Exchange Server mailbox, which resides in a shared database on the computer running Exchange Server. With an Exchange Server mailbox, your message store is located on the server. The network administrator is generally responsible for backing up the server, and with it, the Exchange Server database that contains all the users’ information.
If you don’t use Exchange Server, Outlook 2007 stores your data in a .pst file, a set of personal folders. In this scenario, each user has his or her own .pst file or even multiple personal folder files. These .pst files can be located either on the local hard disk of your computer or in a home directory on the server. Although server-based .pst files and local .pst files are identical from a functional standpoint, they aren’t identical from a backup perspective. Generally, the network administrator regularly backs up server-based user home directories, so if the .pst files are in your home directory, you shouldn’t have to do backups on your own (although you can, of course).
With local message stores, however, normal network backup strategies do not apply. Most networks don’t back up every hard disk on every machine. It simply isn’t efficient. Similarly, if you’re a home user, you probably don’t have a server to which you can save data or a network administrator to watch over the server. In such cases, you need to take steps on your own to protect your data. Individual backup and restore scenarios apply to these kinds of cases.
Three primary options are available for backing up Outlook 2007 data:
Exporting some or all information to a backup .pst file
Copying the .pst file to another disk
Using a backup program to save a copy of the .pst file to tape, another hard disk, or optical media such as CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD-RW
Table 31-1 lists the features available in each backup option.
Table 31-1. Backup Options in Outlook 2007
Backup Type | Export | Copy | Backup |
|---|---|---|---|
Complete backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Partial backup | Yes | No | No |
Automated backup | No | Yes | Yes |
The following sections focus on the use of backup programs and .pst copies.
If you store your Outlook 2007 data in one or more sets of personal folders, the data resides in a .pst file. This file is usually located on your local hard disk, but it could also be stored on a shared network folder. The first step in backing up your personal folders is to determine where the .pst file is located.
If you are not sure whether you use an Exchange Server account, follow these steps to check your e-mail settings:
Click the Mail icon in Control Panel, or right-click the Outlook icon on the Start menu and then choose Properties.
In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles, choose your profile, and then click Properties. Then click E-Mail Accounts to open the E-Mail Accounts dialog box.
If the E-Mail Accounts list includes only Microsoft Exchange Server, your Outlook 2007 data is stored in your Exchange Server mailbox on the server, and you need to talk to your Exchange Server administrator about backups or use the Export method described in "Exporting Data" in Chapter 32. If the E-Mail Accounts list shows an Exchange Server account along with other accounts, look at the mail delivery location specified at the bottom of the dialog box. This area shows where incoming mail is delivered. If it specifies a mailbox, your incoming mail is delivered to your Exchange Server mailbox. If it references a set of personal folders, your incoming mail is stored in a .pst.
If the E-Mail Accounts list shows more than one e-mail account, it’s possible that your Outlook 2007 data is stored in more than one set of personal folders. For example, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) accounts store their data in their own .pst files. If you want to back up everything in this situation, you need to back up multiple .pst files.
To determine whether you are using more than one .pst file, choose File, Data File Management to open the Data Files tab of the Account Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 31-6. The path and file name for the .pst are generally long, so it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to read the full name. Click the vertical bar at the right of the Filename column and drag it to the right until you can view the entire path. Or simply click Open Folder, which opens the folder where the .pst file is stored and highlights the .pst file in the folder.
After you have verified that the message store is not being backed up elsewhere and is stored in a .pst file, you need to choose which kind of backup to do. Both of the following methods work well, and each has its advantages. Back up each of the .pst files listed in the Data Files tab of the Account Settings dialog box using one of these methods.
Personal folders or archive files can be extremely large—often hundreds of megabytes—so simply saving a .pst file to a floppy disk isn’t an option anymore. As files have grown, however, so have the methods available for moving them around. Any of the following options would be acceptable to use with a file backup method:
Recordable (CD-R) or rewritable (CD-RW) CD drive
Recordable (DVD-R) or rewritable (DVD-RW) DVD drive
Zip drive or some other large-capacity storage disk
Network server drive
A drive on another computer on the network
A separate hard disk in the machine where the .pst file is stored
If you are saving to a CD or DVD, you can probably use the software that was included with the drive to copy the file. If you’re using a Zip (or similar) drive or a network location, simply drag the file to your chosen backup location. Make sure to exit Outlook 2007 before starting the backup copy process.
Both Microsoft Windows® XP and Windows Vista™ include a backup application. You can use these applications to identify files for archiving; they offer the following enhancements over a standard file copy:
Allow simple setup of a backup plan by using wizards
Have options for verifying the backup
Have built-in restore and scheduling options
Anyone who works with computers long enough will eventually experience a critical error. A drive will become corrupted, a virus will get through your virus software’s protection, or you’ll accidentally delete something you need. This is the point when all the time and trouble you’ve invested in backing up your data will pay dividends.
Depending on how you created your backup file, you will have one of two options: you can simply recopy your backup .pst file from the backup location where you copied it, or you can run the backup utility and use the Restore tab to bring back the missing file or files. From there, you can select the backup file that contains the .pst file and then determine which files to restore and where to put them.
Note
By default, the backup utility restores a file to its original location. This is generally the best choice, because if the .pst file isn’t restored to the proper location, Outlook 2007 won’t be able to find it.
Whichever method you use, be certain to carefully check the drive for errors and viruses before you restore your data. You don’t want to restore the file only to see it destroyed again a few hours later.
Note
For more information about setting up and using offline folders, see "Working Offline with Outlook 2007 and Exchange Server" in Chapter 43.
You should consider including some other items in your regular Outlook 2007 backup scheme in addition to your mailbox and personal folders. The following list identifies these additional items:
Outcmd.dat. This file stores customized toolbar and menu settings.
<profile>.xml. This file stores customized Navigation Pane settings (shortcuts and shortcut groups). Replace <profile> with the name of your Outlook 2007 profile.
<profile>.nk2. This file stores nicknames for AutoComplete (shortcut names for e-mail addresses that you have typed in the recipient fields). Replace <profile> with the name of your Outlook 2007 profile.
<name>.srs. This file stores send/receive groups. Replace <name> with the name of the send/receive group.
Note
The .dat, .xml, .nk2, and .srs files are all located by default in the Application DataMicrosoftOutlook folder of your Windows user profile (such as Documents and SettingsjimApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook). To back up these files, exit Outlook 2007, and then back up these files to the same location where you back up your .pst file(s).
In addition to backing up these files on a regular basis, you should also back up your signature files, if you use signatures in Outlook 2007. Signature files are stored in the Application DataMicrosoftSignatures folder of your Windows user profile, such as Documents and Settings<user>Application DataMicrosoftSignatures, where <user> is your Windows logon name. Outlook 2007 creates three files for each signature, one each in .txt, .htm, and .rtf format. For example, if you create a signature named Knowledge, Outlook 2007 creates the files Knowledge.txt, Knowledge.htm, and Knowledge.rtf. The simplest way to back up all your signatures is to back up the entire folder.