How to properly backup/restore outlook?

[Berryracer]

What I tried doing is, save the file which is in My Documents\Outlook\Outlook.pst

Then When I installed office after a format, I launched Outlook for the first time then closed it and deleted the My Documents\Outlook\Outlook.pst then replaced it with my previously backed *.pst file

My contacts in the address book were the same and so were the emails but I had to re do all the options, signatures, font settings of Outlook

Is what I did even right?

What is the proper way to fully backup Outlook with all the signatures, settings, emails, and how to restore it?

 

[smakme7757]

I thought they were PST files, but anyhow.

The PST or PSI or what ever it's called is a database over your email and addresses and so on. I don't believe user settings are stored in that file.

I've always just restored from my PST file and then recreated the signature seeing as i have it in a word document for that very reason.

So yea, as far as i know you did the right thing

 

[Berryracer]

I thought they were PST files, but anyhow.

The PST or PSI or what ever it's called is a database over your email and addresses and so on. I don't believe user settings are stored in that file.

I've always just restored from my PST file and then recreated the signature seeing as i have it in a word document for that very reason.

So yea, as far as i know you did the right thing

yeah sorry i made a typo I meant pst

 

[Mushkins]

This has been the million dollar IT question since the dawn of time.

Short answer: You just can't practically get it all. There's the PST files, which contain all emails/calendars/contacts/tasks/etc. Then you can copy over the NK2 file (or the autocomplete temp file in Outlook 2010 and newer) which houses all the accounts autocomplete entries. Other than that you can try to copy over some of the other settings and INI files in the Outlook directory, but from my experience they either don't make a difference or flat out corrupt the profile and force you to start from scratch anyway.

However, with Outlook 2010 onward, a large number of the settings are now stored with your account on the Exchange server, and they *do* get pulled down automatically when you configure that account on a new PC/new Outlook. Pretty useful if you have Exchange.

 

[Berryracer]

thanks for that tip bro.

where is this NK2 file?

 

[Dahak]

For the settings / view I'm not sure

The Nk2 file was used in Outlook 2007 and earlier. it is now called the Stream_AutoComplete file.

Autocomplete
Its located in windows 7/8 in Username\appdata\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache

The easiest way to back it up is to use NK2Edit

otherwise you have to manually backup the file, and mess around with renaming it every time you re-install

Signature
For the signature, you just have to backup the Signature folder located in Username\appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\

Yes they are in two different folders...

PST
For that yes, you would just copy it and it will keep all your email,contacts,calendar, task, notes
and restore it the way you did or you can specify the file when recreating the account

Rules
you have to manually export and import them Instructions

 

[Barfo]

What about rules, where are those stored?

 

[Dahak]

What about rules, where are those stored?

You would have to manually export them. Rules Instructions

 

[xSauronx]

This has been the million dollar IT question since the dawn of time.

i blame microsoft. /if you write the software, you should also write the backup tool

the biggest complaint i get after emails are the auto complete entries. since i had only used groupwise and gmail for years before working for a consulting company and seeing outlook everywhere, i had no damn idea what people were bitching about all the time. /dont love groupwise, but, i never had to backup or restore anything for groupwise, either.