One of the most important data to backup before formatting your hard drive is the downloaded emails. If you are using Outlook (not Outlook Express) to check your emails, then there is a simple way to backup your emails, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes. All you need to do is to make a copy of the .pst file which is usually named Outlook.pst by default. This .pst file contains all the information you have downloaded and created inside Outlook, except for the email account settings (which you can write them down and re-enter them for your new installation).
Where is the .PST File?
The .pst file is usually stored under your user account’s directory. In Windows Vista, it would be like this.
C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst
If you are unsure, you can always check in Outlook by clicking “File”, then “Data File Management…”. You should find the path under the filename column.
So copying the .pst file is a safe way to keep your emails and if your Windows is not accessible, you can simply plugin your hard drive to a working machine and copy over the .pst file.
Restoring .PST File and Fixing Your Contacts
Restoring your emails is easy. Before you do that, make sure you have run Outlook once so that it creates the Outlook.pst file first. Then you can copy over the .pst file that you have backed up and replace the empty one. The next time you start Outlook, you should be able to see all your old emails. Remember to add your email accounts to Outlook since the .pst file doesn’t contain your email account settings.
However, there is one flaw to fix. Assuming that you have saved some email addresses in the Contacts, if you try to compose a new email and insert an email address in the “To” field from your address book, you will receive an error. To fix this, all you need to do is to re-create the address book.
Click on “Tools” > “Email Accounts…” > Select “View or change existing directories or address books” > Click “Next” > Remove the current “Outlook Address Book” and add a new one > Click “Finish”
After completing the steps above, you need to restart Outlook and then click on “Contacts” once. After that, you should be able to insert email addresses from your contact list when composing an email.
