Your data files (or personal folders) for Microsoft Outlook 2010 are saved in My Documents > Outlook Files as something.pst. Backing up my .pst files has become a thorn in my side. My regular backup software was hardly ever able to copy them over to my external hard drive because they were always in use. I boot my PC, start Outlook and it pretty much runs from that moment until the time I close it and shutdown the PC at the end of the day. If disaster struck, I wouldn’t have a reliable backup of my email. My quest began for a way to automatically back up .pst files. It had to be automatic, it had to be smart enough to get the files when Outlook wasn’t running, and it had to be small and work seamlessly with Outlook.
I found an add-in that Microsoft released for Outlook 2007, 2003, and 2002 to do just what I wanted, but it wasn’t going to work in Outlook 2010. I found a hack that would get it to work, but then saw that it wouldn’t work on Windows 7 64bit. Guess what I’m running? Yup, that’s right. So much for that and I kept searching. Oh, there are free and pay software out there, but I really didn’t want to be downloading and testing who knows what.
And then the Gods of Search parted the clouds and Microsoft came through for me! Turns out all I needed to do was install that add-in and then let Microsoft Fix it! Here’s how you can do it too:
- Exit Outlook.
- Visit Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup and download “pfbackup.exe.”
- Double click “pfbackup.exe” and let the install do it’s thing.
- Visit How to enable Personal Folders Backup add-in to work with Outlook 2010 and click the Microsoft Fix it graphic or link and either run or download the Fix it file.
- Since I downloaded the “MicrosoftFixit50545.msi” file, I then double clicked it and let it do it’s thing.
- Run Outlook.
- Along the top (ribbon) of Outlook, you’ll see an Add-Ins tab. Click it. If you don’t have any other Add-Ins (like me), the word Backup will be in the upper left of the Add-Ins tab. Click Backup and then click Options on the Outlook Personal Folders Backup pop-up that opens.
- On the Backup Options pop-up, you’ll be able to set how often you want to backup, what personal folders you want to backup, and the location on your system or connected external drives you want the backups saved. Click OK and then Save Backup on the previous pop-up and when you exit Outlook, the Outlook Personal Folders Backup Add-In will give you peace of mind.
