So you want to back up all your Outlook emails? We would understand each other. In an age of increasing security threats and accidental data loss, taking precautionary measures can never hurt anyone.
In fact, according to Verizon research in 2020, 17% of all data breaches and losses were caused by human error. Therefore, it makes sense to back up all files regularly.
How to backup all your emails in Outlook
By backing up your data, you protect it from accidental data loss, corruption, accidental deletion, and all other forms of loss. You can do something similar for Outlook emails by performing regular backups.
Let’s learn how to:
- Start Outlook and select File > Open and Export > Import/Export.
- Click Export to File and select Next.
- Then select Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
- Select the folder where you want to save the backup and select Next.
- Select the file or folder location and click Finish.
- A new backup of all your Outlook emails will be created in seconds. You can also set a password for email PST files after the backup is complete; this will protect your data from unauthorized access.
Back up your emails to Outlook Web
The above method is only one of many ways to backup files in Outlook; it only backs up desktop Outlook emails. However, if you want to back up your emails on Outlook Web, you’ll need to rely on an email client.
There are a number of email clients available online. In this example, we will use Thunderbird – an open source, cross-platform email client available for free.
Download and run the Thunderbird email client and sign in with your Outlook account. Enter your email address and password; select IMAP configuration and click Done. Thunderbird will then verify your credentials and set up your configuration – ideally this should take no more than a few seconds. Finally, click Finish.
Once you do this, your Outlook account will be successfully mapped to Thunderbird. You can then download all emails from there. If you want to store all emails in your inbox, go to the Inbox tab.
Then select all emails by clicking Ctrl + A and click Save as…
Now select the location where you want to save the emails and click on Choose Folder. All emails from your inbox are then saved in EML format to the selected location.
Backing up emails in Outlook
As our lives and work become increasingly intertwined with technology, it is an indisputable fact that users will need to keep up with various privacy and troubleshooting practices; regularly backing up your data—whether from your hard drive, the cloud, or your emails—is one such healthy practice.
In a busy work environment, it is important to be on par with the natural flow of communication. This will help you provide quick feedback to your valued customers and other stakeholders. To achieve this, you need to rely on a trusted and super fast email software like MS Outlook. As such, the software may fail or pose a risk; it is your responsibility to ensure that your PST files are safe and sound. According to Forbes experts, in a world dominated by data, having a trusted data recovery service is essential.
A single PST file can contain hundreds of megabytes of emails. As such, it can pose a risk as PST files are known to contain confidential or sensitive information. Additionally, employees often have a habit of keeping duplicates of these files scattered across multiple devices. It can be concluded that PST files are not that secure and prone to hacking despite being password protected. Let’s explore some of the risks associated with Outlook PST files and ways to keep them healthy.
Top risks associated with PST files
Excessive data usage
PST files with an average weight of approximately 600 MB. Needless to say, this can culminate in extreme data usage on your organization’s devices. Since PST files have performance problems on networks and also because they are not compatible with the idea of multiple users working at the same time, each computer will have its own PST. If your employees use PST files on a work computer and a home computer or laptop, you are sure to have at least one copy of the PST files, which takes up more precious data space and leads to an increased security risk.
Lack of proper or secure backups
Because PST files have problems accessing them over networks, these files cannot be backed up properly. This can pose serious problems if a customer wants to erase all their data and information from your company machines. You need to check each device to make sure your client’s PST files are not there. In addition, users can delete emails directly from the PST file, which means that important information may be lost. Corrupt PST files are a common problem leading to data loss.
It involves security risks
Outlook PST files are scattered across multiple devices. It poses serious security risks to the organization. Many of your team members have a habit of making copies and saving them on other devices. This can pose serious security risks. Keeping duplicate PST files scattered across multiple devices can prove dangerous.
Tips to keep your PST files healthy
Use high-performance data repair and recovery tools
If your Outlook crashes due to file corruption, consider using data recovery techniques that do not limit opportunities to recover valuable data. These techniques can include effective PST file repair and recovery tools that are proven high performance software. These tools help recover your critical data and support your email application to be up and running immediately.
Always try to maintain the perfect PST file size
Although Outlook allows you to keep PST files up to 50GB in size, the application’s speed will slow down significantly whenever you exceed the 12GB limit. This means that simple tasks like opening emails and folders will take more time to load and implement. If you’re in the habit of using Outlook heavily, you may lose a few man-hours over time due to slower speeds. Maintaining large PST files leads to an increased risk of data loss when the file becomes corrupted. it is difficult to restore large files. This will increase the cost of data recovery. It is best to avoid these problems by limiting the size of the PST file to 12 GB. You can achieve this by following the tips below.
Keep only critical emails
People still receive emails from different sources. Some emails are important and only those emails should be saved. If you don’t delete unimportant emails, the size of your PST file will grow exponentially. Therefore, it is best to continue deleting unnecessary or unimportant emails as soon as you read them. Get into the habit of frequently emptying the deleted e-mail folder containing deleted items. You may consider automating the process to ensure that the folder is empty once the application is closed. If you want to automate the process, go to Start and Close Outlook and choose to empty the appropriate folder when you close the application.
Do not keep duplicate emails
You may often receive duplicate emails. For example, some corporate communication emails are often sent from different sections. It is wise to delete duplicate emails whenever you receive them to free up valuable space.