Backing up email in outlook

So you decide to reformat your harddrive and reinstall your OS, but what are you going to do about your precious emails? Back them up of course, easier said that done for alot of people ( myself included). To begin with you are going to want to set your folder options so that you can view hidden folders. To do this go to control panel then to folder options and then view, then click "view hidden folders" . Secondly you will need some sort of removable storage device, like a usb stick, you some mp3 players can store non music data on them as well. Otherwise if you are on a network find some place where you can store your backep up emails so that you can access them when you need to restore them.

OK so how do we back up our email? Firstly you want to find out where your outlook.pst file is. This is usually located in: C:---->documents and settings----> your file ( usually your username)--->application data--->microsoft---outlook. From here you should see a file named "outlook" copy this file and place it on your USB stick or network somewhere.


Now open up outlook and hit: file---.>import and export-----> "import from another program or file"----->personal folder file (pst)----->locate where you copied "outlook.pst"----> click next. From here it will give you a few options as to how you'd like your backup to appear.


voila you have just backed up your email!