In my entry titled “How to backup your Microsoft Office 2007 Outlook in its entirety (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7)” I described how to backup the Microsoft Outlook 2007 data file together with that part of the Windows registry that stores within it the email accounts from where Outlook retrieves emails or via which emails are sent out. Today I discuss how to use that backed up information to either recover a failed computer or to transfer the settings from one computer to another. The former may happen if the hard disk fails or as a result of a malware attack while the latter would apply if you are upgrading your computer or operating system.

On your freshly formatted computer you need to install Microsoft Outlook. Accept all the defaults. After the installer completes, run Microsoft Outlook for the first time. You will be asked a number of questions. Enter anything that will allow you to proceed to the end of this process. Do not enter valid email account details because Outlook will attempt to download mail after you complete the process and since this is not the database you will be using, you do not want any messages to end up here (this can be fixed but why create a problem that will need fixing).

1. Restore the files you had previously backed up to their original location. If you followed my previous article, the location would be %USERPROFILE%\Documents if you’re using Windows 7 and %USERPROFILE%\My Documents for Windows XP.

If you were using an online backup solution, you could have had a process that backed up this directory multiple times a day thereby guaranteeing that not even one email was lost when disaster struck.

2. Delete the files created by Microsoft Outlook when you first ran it. As we did when backing up, we need to find out the default location where Microsoft Outlook places the pst database. The same steps you performed during the backup stage must be repeated:

1. With Outlook running, right click on the Personal Folders entry (1) and choose the option Properties for ‘Personal Folders’ from the short cut menu that comes up.
2. A dialog box titled Outlook Today – (Personal Folders) Properties comes up. Click on the Advanced… button (2).
3. This brings up yet another dialog box titled Personal Folders. The Filename: entry (3) depicts the location of where your Outlook data file currently resides.
4. Copy the directory location from the Filename: entry and paste it into Windows Explorer.
5. Click OK on all the dialog boxes you have just opened and shut down Outlook.
6. Delete the contents of this folder.

 3. Click on the Microsoft Outlook 2007 icon to run the program. Since the pst data file is no longer there, Outlook prompts you that it cannot find this file and asks that you select the location where this file can be found. Move to the directory you have just restored and select the appropriate database. Outlook will memorize the new location.

A  message box comes up to tell you that Outlook must be restarted. Press the OK button.

4. Run Outlook again and confirm that all your emails, contacts and calendar entries are present. Although everything should be there, the email account settings are missing. This is because these are not stored within the pst file but are held in the registry.

If you did not follow the article about how to backup this information, you will have to manually setup each email account. Search your mail provider’s website for information about how to go about it. If, on the other hand, you retained a backup of this chunk of the registry then read on.

 5. Close Microsoft Outlook.

 6. Restore the Registry entries by double clicking on the registry file found in the directory you restored earlier. You will be asked to confirm the operation (1). You need to choose the Yes button. A warning comes up (2) to tell you that mucking up with the registry is dangerous. This is because one can easily render a computer an electronic vegetable if one deletes, adds or modifies incorrect entries to the registry—check out the backup part of this work for more about the Windows registry. Press the Yes button for this dialog box. A third dialog box (3) will tell you that the entries have been successfully added.

7. The next time you run Outlook you will get a prompt for the password associated with each email account managed by this program. Type in the password. If you do not wish to have to enter the password every time you run Outlook, click the appropriate checkbox to save the password.

8. Confirm that everything is working as it did before.

End of part 2 – Conclusion

You do not appreciate something until that something is no longer there. Emails, contacts and appointments are three of the most important things in the electronic world we live in. A backup solution that is easy to setup and forget about while being equally easy to restore when the need arises is the ideal candidate to ensure that you do not ever lose one bit of data.

Your comments and opinions are welcome. Is there a program you would like to backup but do not know how to go about it? Did I miss something out in my article on how to backup and restore of Microsoft Outlook 2007? Leave a comment or email me on chribonn@gmail.com.

Backing up the data file

The folk who decided on the default location of the Outlook data file chose a location that is difficult to figure out.  Also when installing Outlook (or when running it for the first time) there is no way to specify a different folder.

Changing the default location

The first thing I am going to demonstrate in this tutorial is how to move your existing Outlook files to a more humane location under the Windows 7 Documents (or Windows XP My Documents) folders.

Open Outlook which I am assuming you are already running.

1. Right click on the Personal Folders entry (1) and choose the option Properties for ‘Personal Folders’ from the short cut menu that comes up. If your folder has a different name, Personal Folders will be called differently.
2. A dialog box titled Outlook Today – (Personal Folders) Properties comes up. Click on the Advanced… button (2).
3. This brings up yet another dialog box titled Personal Folders. The Filename: entry (3) depicts the location of where your Outlook data file currently resides.
4. Copy the directory location from the Filename: entry and paste it into a Windows Explorer window.
5. Click OK on all the dialog boxes you have just opened and shut down Outlook.
6. Move the folder that contains the Outlook files to a more appropriate location. I would suggest under %USERPROFILE%\Documents if you’re using Windows 7 and %USERPROFILE%\My Documents if you’re still happily using Windows XP.

Click on the Microsoft Outlook 2007 icon to run the program. Since you have moved the original location of the data file, you will get a message box telling you that Outlook can no longer find the pst file in its original location (1).

Clicking OK on the dialog box brings up a file selection screen that allows you to specify the new location where you had shifted your Outlook data files. Move to the new location, click on the pst file and hit the Open Button (2).

Another message box comes up to tell you that Outlook must be restarted. OK that.

The second time onwards Microsoft Outlook 2007 will automatically find your files no questions asked. And the directory where all your important emails reside is now in an easy to find location in your Documents folder together with all your other important stuff.

Backing up the registry

Microsoft Outlook retains your email account settings within the registry. This means that when the time comes to reinstall your computer, unless you have saved your registry Outlook settings you will have to re-enter all the email accounts you process using Outlook 2007. If you happen to have a single Gmail account this might not be that much of a problem (provided you still remember how to do it) but if, like me, you have almost a dozen email accounts flowing into your Outlook remembering each mailbox’s parameters can be time consuming.

A word of warning about handling the registry: unlike many programs, the registry program does not have an undo or an undelete option and changes go into effect immediately. If you delete a file by mistake you can pull it out of limbo by visiting the Recycle Bin. If you screw up a document, pressing undo will take you back one action at a time until you reach the stage before the oops or, if necessary, you can abandon all changes done during that session simply by not saving the updated document. None of this exists in the registry so be cautious.

In Windows 7, type regedit in the Search Programs and Files to run the registry program. With Windows XP, type the same command in the Run… box. Both options can be accessed from the Start Menu. Windows 7 will bring up a dialog box asking you to confirm your action. You should say yes in order to run the program.

Navigate to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles (1). Each profile you have defined will appear under this key. In my case there is one profile called Outlook.

Right click on Outlook and choose the option Export from the menu that comes up. I suggest that you place the registry snippet you are saving in the same location as the Outlook data files. This ensures that all your Microsoft Outlook related data is in one easy-to-backup folder.

End of part 1 – Conclusion

By backing up the folder to an online backup service you can rest assured that whenever something happens to your computer all your emails and the mailbox settings can be retrieved with ease. If you add a new email account or remove one you no longer use, you should export the registry settings again.

When backing up your Outlook data files, Outlook should be shut down.

Although I have not mentioned Windows Vista, the procedure for Windows 7 is almost identical to that of Windows Vista.

Next time I will describe how to use the information you have saved to restore your Microsoft Outlook 2007 in case of corruption. I’ll also throw in how you can use this backed up data when upgrading your computer from Windows XP to Windows 7.

We all appreciate how important emails are to us. Back them up regularly.

Click Back up files button

Alternatively, you can create a complete backup of your entire computer by clicking the Back up computer button and follow the simple wizard :)