How to Backup Mail Outlook | 5 Easy Ways

The necessity to backup Outlook emails

Outlook, a widely used email service provider globally, offers a range of convenient features that enhance our daily lives. With its efficient email management system, we can effortlessly organize our inboxes. Given that our Outlook content is dynamic, constantly sending and receiving emails, it becomes crucial to address the potential risks of data loss or computer crashes.

To safeguard our valuable emails, especially for business or personal use, it is advisable to proactively backup mail Outlook. By adopting this practice, we ensure the secure preservation and seamless management of our emails through uncomplicated procedures. This article will provide comprehensive instructions on effortlessly creating backups of Outlook live emails. Follow along for detailed steps on how to proceed.

How to backup Outlook email in Outlook 2013/2016/2019

Now let’s answer the question: how to back up Outlook emails? Here comes the way.

• Method 1. Drag and Drop Emails to File Explorer Folders
• Method 2. Backing up Outlook emails to Gmail
• Method 3. Backing Up Emails to Microsoft Excel
• Method 4. Backup Outlook Emails to PST Format
• Method 5. Automatic backup via the best third-party software

Method 1. Drag and Drop Emails to File Explorer Folders

This approach offers a swift and straightforward method to backup Outlook live emails by utilizing the drag-and-drop feature. By following the steps below, you can effortlessly create backups of your Outlook emails using File Explorer.

Step 1. Launch both File Explorer and Outlook. Locate the folder containing your desired emails within Outlook. Create a new folder within File Explorer where you intend to store your Outlook backup.

Step 2. Select the emails you wish to save and drag them over to the designated File Explorer backup folder.

✍Note: Since your new folder functions as an Outlook file, double-clicking it will open it within Outlook.

By employing this technique, you can seamlessly create backups of your Outlook emails, ensuring their safety and accessibility.

Method 2. Backing up Outlook emails to Gmail

Step 1. Start your web browser and navigate to your Gmail account.

Step 2. Log into your Gmail account and confirm your identity by typing in your username and password.

Step 3. Access the Mail Settings tab via the Gear Icon and follow this path: Forwarding and POP/IMAP > Enable IMAP > Save.

Step 4. Open Microsoft Office and locate the Tools option in the taskbar. Click the Import and Export option.

Step 5. Import your Outlook emails by selecting Import from another file and clicking Next. A new window will appear. Select Personal Folder File (.PST) and click Next. Choose where you want to save your backup file, name your folder, and click Finish to complete the process.

Step 6. Once the export is completed, right-click on your PST file and select Copy. Find the Gmail tab in the panel and paste your file. Then your Outlook email now safely is located in your Gmail account.

Method 3. Backing Up Emails to Microsoft Excel

Another workable way to backup is through Microsoft Excel, here is how you can do it.

Step 1. Open and locate the File tab in Microsoft Outlook and select the Open and Export option to start the Import and Export Wizard.

Step 2. When the wizard appears, select Import or Export > Export to a file.

Step 3. Select the file type which is compatible with Microsoft Excel to back up your Outlook files.

Step 4. Select the backup destination to save your Outlook backup, name the file, and click Finish.

Method 4. Backup Outlook Emails to PST Format

The PST file format is utilized by Microsoft Outlook for storing crucial data such as email account information, including messages, contact details, file attachments, and other related items. The subsequent instructions outline the process of exporting emails from Outlook to the PST format.

Step 1. Click on File > Open and Export> Import or Export.

Step 2. Choose Export to a file and then click Next.

Step 3. Select Outlook Data File (.pst), then click on Next.

Step 4. Select the email account and other subfolders that needs backup and click Next.

Step 5. Choose the location where the Outlook backup file would be, Name the backup file and then click Finish.

Step 6. If you want to make sure that nobody has access to your files, enter and validate a password, and choose OK.

Method 5. Automatic backup via the best third-party software

For a convenient and automated solution to backup mail Outlook, you can consider utilizing another useful tool----- AOMEI Backupper Professional, which is renowned as a top email backup software. This software offers seamless backup functionality for all Outlook data, encompassing emails, contacts, attachments, notes, and calendars. It is compatible with various Windows operating systems, including Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP, and Vista.

◎With its Outlook backup feature, you can backup Outlook emails to internal hard drive and external disk, USB, NAS, network location, cloud client, etc.
◎You can set daily, weekly, monthly, USB plug-in and event trigger frequencies to schedule automatic backup Outlook data regularly. You can also enable “Wake up computer to run scheduled tasks” feature to set off-peak hours or any time when Outlook is not in use to backup Outlook files.
◎You can backup only changed files in Outlook through incremental backup (by default) or differential backup, thus saving a lot of backup time and hard disk space.

Now, download AOMEI Backupper and launch it.

Step 1. Open Outlook, type email and click Connect, then follow the on-screen instructions to add the Outlook account including the emails you want to backup.

Step 2. Open AOMEI Backupper Professional. In the main interface, click Backup > Outlook Backup.

Step 3. Click Add Outlook data and select the Outlook email folders you want to backup. Then click OK.

Step 4. Then click the box below to select a backup destination to store your backups.

Step 5. You are allowed to set a scheduled backup mode in Daily\Weekly\Monthly\Event-trigger and USB-plug in. After that, confirm by clicking Start Backup to start Outlook emails backup automatically.

Backup Scheme:  You can choose full backup, incremental backup or differential backup according to your needs, and Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup to delete old backups regularly. This feature can prevent disk storage full issues to happen.

To sum up

Backing up mail Outlook is easy to operate via the 5 ways. What’s more, by utilizing AOMEI Backupper Professional, you can easily and reliably safeguard your Outlook data without manual intervention. This software streamlines the backup process, providing a comprehensive and efficient solution for protecting your valuable email information.

What’s more, it’s quite a useful backup and restore software, securely backup files when accidents happen, for example, if HP laptop screen flickering Windows 11.