| Unlike the OE paradigm that stores messages in multiple email files, Outlook uses only a single file for all email messages. This file has a .pst extension. As you might guess, this file can grow very, very large. But you can just back up a portion of the .pst file rather than the whole thing. To get started with Outlook backup: 1. | In the Outlook window, click File | Import and Export. It doesn't matter which folder you have selected when starting this procedure. | 2. | In the Import and Export dialog box, choose "Export to a file" and click Next. | 3. | Now, choose the Personal Folder File (.pst) file type and click Next again. | 4. | From the dialog box shown in Figure 12-10, choose the folder you want to back up. You can choose all subfolders of the chosen folder (if they exist) with the "Include subfolders" check box. Click Next. Figure 12-10. Backing up an Outlook folder. | 5. | Now choose the location for the saved .pst file, and set the save options. If you've created a backup of the same name before, you can replace duplicates with items exported, allow duplicates to be created, or choose not to export duplicate items. | 6. | Click Finish to start the backup operation. |
There's a separate procedure in Outlook called Archiving, which, while similar, is not the same as making a backup file. A discussion of Archiving is beyond the scope of this book. |