NOTE: These procedures only apply if you have installed Outlook with the Internet Mail Only option. To determine your installation type, click About Microsoft Outlook on the Help menu. If you have the Internet Mail Only option installed, you see "Internet Mail Only".

There are a number of differences between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express e-mail clients.

The following topics: are covered

• Exporting Your Personal Folders File
• Making a backup copy of a Personal Folder file
• Exporting Personal Folder data
• Importing Personal Folder data
• Automating the Backing Up of Personal Folders
• Backing Up Outlook Settings Files
• Exporting and Importing Rules
• Import or Export User Defined Contact Fields

Backing up data created in Outlook allows you to restore the data if it is ever lost or damaged due to a hardware failure or other unexpected event. It also allows you to move or transfer the data to a different hard disk on the same computer or a different one by backing up the data from the original hard disk, and then restoring it to the new hard disk.

Follow these steps to back up your Personal Folders file and all subfolders:

1. On the File menu, click Import And Export to open the Import And Export Wizard.
2. In the "Choose an action to perform" list, click to select "Export to a file" and click Next.
3. In the "Create a file of type" list, click to select "Personal Folder File (.pst), and click Next.
4. In the "Select the folder to export from" list, click "Personal Folders."
5. Click to select the "Include subfolders" check box, and then click Next.
6. In the "Save exported file as" box, type the path and file name of a destination .pst file, or click Browse and select a destination .pst file.
7. Under Options, click to select how you want duplicate items treated, and click Finish.

It is possible to save Outlook Folders in a format other than PST.

Version Information

Outlook stores its data in a personal folder (PST) file that is created at the time you set up your mail account. The default display name for the these files as you view them in the Outlook Folder List is Personal Folders. If you are using the default name, the Folder List entry will read, "Outlook Today - [Personal Folder]." You can customize these display names.

To backup the entire Personal Folder file, follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook. To locate the PST file where Outlook items are stored, right-click Outlook Today in the Folder List and on the shortcut menu click Properties for folder name where folder name is the display name of the current PST, and then click Advanced.
2. In Path, note the location of the PST file.
3. In Windows, the default path for this file is:

   C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst

4. The path you see in this box may be different on your computer. The PST can be stored anywhere on your hard disk. If you have defined other PST files for storage of Outlook items and want to back them up, use the same procedure to locate the path to each PST.
5. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog boxes.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Outlook.

The Personal Folders Advanced Properties dialog box in step 2 allows you to perform other operations on the PST file. For example, you can customize the label of the PST by editing the Name. You can also reduce the size of a Personal Folder file by clicking Compact Now.

If you ever need to restore a Personal Folder file from removable media such as a floppy diskette, a Zip drive, a CD Re-writable, magnetic tape drive, or any other mass storage media, copy the backup copy of the file you created in the previous steps. You should copy the backup copy from the media, back onto the computer hard drive, folder, and name you noted in step 2.

It is possible to save Outlook Folders in a format other than PST.

Version Information

1. To export an individual Outlook folder such as Contacts or Calendar, follow these steps:
2. On the File menu, click Import And Export.
3. Click Export To File, and then click Next.
4. In Create a file of type click Personal Folder File (.pst), and then click Next.
5. In Select the folder to export from, click the folder you want to export.
6. Click to select Include Subfolders if it applies, and then click Next.
7. In Save exported file as,
   1. click Browse to select the location of the PST to receive the data you are exporting.

      Or,

   2. type the path and file name, and then click Finish.

It is possible to save Outlook Folders in a format other than PST.

Version Information

To import a personal folder file into Outlook, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Import And Export.
2. Click Import from another program or file, and then click Next.
3. In Select the file type to import from, click Personal Folder File (.pst), and click Next.
4. In File to Import, click Browse to locate the PST file you want to import, and then click Next. If you know the path, type it in the box.
5. In Select the folder to import from, click the folder containing the data you want to import.
6. If the folder contains subfolders, and you want to include this data in the import process, click to select Include Subfolders.
7. If the destination for importing is the currently selected folder, click Import items into the current folder; otherwise, click Import items into the same folder in. This will create matching items in the destination folder you select.
8. Click Finish.

If importing into a new copy of Outlook, for example transferring between PCs, it is worthwhile performing a test of the Mail Merge function,

Microsoft has released a utility to automate the backup of your Personal Folders file. The utility works only with Outlook 2000 and can be downloaded from the following Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8B081F3A-B7D0-4B16-B8AF-5A6322F4FD01&displaylang=en For additional information about the Personal Folder Backup utility, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 238782 How to Automatically Backup Your Personal Folders File

If you have customized settings which you want to replicate on another computer using Outlook, you may wish to include the following files in your back as well as the Personal Folders file:

• Outcmd.dat - This file stores toolbar and menu settings.
• Profile Name.fav - This is your Favorites file that includes the settings for the Outlook bar.
• Profile Name.htm - This file stores the HTML AutoSignature.
• Profile Name.rtf - This file stores the Rich Text Format AutoSignature.
• Profile Name.txt - This file stores the Plain Text format AutoSignature.

You can backup your Rules Wizard Rules by exporting them for later use. Follow these steps to export your rules:

1. On the Tools menu and click Rules Wizard.
2. Click Options.
3. Click Export and specify the file name for your exported rules. The file uses the ".rwz" file extension.
4. To import previously defined rules, follow these steps:
5. On the Outlook Bar, click Inbox.
6. On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
7. Click Options.
8. Click Import Rules.
9. In the File Name box, type the path and file name where the existing rules reside. By default, the rules are stored in a file with a .RWZ extension.
10. Click Open.

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Outlook 2000