How to easily backup your hosted exchange email in Outlook 2013

Lisa Hendrickson | October 16, 2013 | 0 Comments

Awhile back, I had a client who did an update on her iPhone and during that update, her calendar went missing. She was on hosted exchange and due to some “terms and conditions”, a mailbox restore was not going to happen for the client. (By the way, not all companies refuse to do mailbox restores, just this specific one company that will remain nameless for now). Even if you have a company that will restore mailboxes, it’s sometimes time critical to get back your information that you have already stored locally.

So if you have any version of Outlook, not just Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2010, the same instructions will work to some degree. There are screen shots below. The backup file will be stored in your default Outlook folders in your computer, but these should be backed up to an external backup or online.

If you need online backup, please call me to schedule an appointment. We charge $79 for setup and your products costs are $65 for one computer up to $109 for 3 computers.

In Outlook…click on “File”
Then click on “Open and Export”
Then click on “Import and Export”
Then click on “Export to a file”
Select “Outlook Data File (.pst)
Outlook will show you the mailboxes you can export. Click on the “Inbox” and hit “Next”
Now Click on the browse button, and by default Outlook should save your file where online backup programs know to backup. It should be in the My Documents, Outlook Files folder.
Create a name for the file and hit “Ok”
Then hit “Finish”

The larger your hosted exchange is, the longer a backup will take. I recommend doing this on Fridays before you leave the office or before you go to bed. You will not be able to use Outlook during this time.