How do I back up my entire Outlook?

“Hello, I work in a small company with 10 PC workstations. Everyone uses Outlook. How can I back up emails on it? Do you have general advice on methods or software to use? I would do the backup during my lunch break. Can I manage mail without having high costs? Thank you.”

Outlook is a widely used email option. You may also have the same need as this user above: a good Outlook backup software that works well and doesn't cost too much.

Why do you back up Outlook PST files?

Outlook emails are often saved as PST files. So, why do you back up PST files of Outlook? Here are some reasons:

• Protect your emails better: Once you create backups of your Outlook PST files, you can access them even if your emails are lost.
• Easy to share: You can transfer your Outlook PST files between different cloud drives after backup.
• Quick to access: If you back up Outlook PST files to a local destination, you can view them without a network connection.

For this, a backup Outlook software can be your great choice. You can read the following content to learn more about the best Outlook backup software.

Export Outlook files in the Outlook app

In the Outlook application, you can export your Outlook files directly to back up them.

1. Click Import/Export under the Open & Export option.

2. Choose Export to a file and click on Next.

3. Choose Outlook File Data (.pst) to save. And choose the mail folder. Then select a location to save your files.

Review of Outlook backup software

There are some different Outlook backup software programs on the market. Here is the basic information about them, and you can refer to it.

Safe PST Backup

Safe PST Backup is a free Outlook backup software for Outlook PST files. It supports backing up PST files to local and external hard drives, network, or memory devices.

Supporting systems: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP

Price: Free

Main features: 

• Scheduled backup
• Full backup and incremental backup
• Password protection

Mailstore Home

Mailstore Home is a mail backup software that allows you to backup data to local drives. You can recover data with it at any time.

Supporting systems: Windows 7 SP1 or later

Price: Free for 30 days trial, Free for 30 days trial. The subscription starts from $229

Main features: 

• Compatible with multiple webmail services
• Encrypted protection

ABF Outlook Backup

ABF Outlook Backup can work with Outlook 97/98/2000/2002/2003/2007/2010/2013/2016 versions. You can use such Outlook backup software to backup emails, settings, contacts, accounts, messages, and tasks in your Outlook account.

Supporting systems: Windows 7/8/8.1/10/Vista/XP

Price: Free trial for 30 days, charges from $49.95

Main features: 

• Backup of email messages, address book, settings, accounts, and  signatures
• Move MS Outlook files from one computer to another device

Best Free Outlook backup software - CBackup

Nowadays, cloud backup has become a popular backup option with its easy-to-use features. And you can choose to back up your Outlook PST files to the cloud as well. On the market, there is not much software that supports backing up PST files. Here we will introduce the easiest Outlook email backup software - CBackup.

CBackup is a professional cloud backup tool, supporting Windows PC auto backup on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP systems. It provides different backup methods, including full backup and incremental backup, and unlimited backup speed.

What’s more, CBackup offers 5GB of free cloud storage in the cloud, and you can back up your files to it for free. If you want to backup files to public cloud drives, CBackup also supports backup from PC to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.

Let’s see how to backup Outlook email files from PC to cloud via CBackup easily.

Part 1. Add cloud drive to CBackup

1. Download and install the CBackup desktop app on your computer. First, sign up for a new CBackup account, then run the client to log into it.

2. Choose the Storage tab. If you want to create backups of Outlook to Google Drive, you can select Google Drive > Authorize Now. Then follow its step-by-step instructions to grant CBackup access to your Google Drive.

Part 2. Create Windows Mail Backup

1. Click on the Backup button > the Backup PC to Public Cloud option.

2. You can type in the Task Name for your backups, then select Outlook PST files from your PC, and then choose Google Drive as the target.

4. After the above, click the Start Backup button to backup your Outlook files with ease.

⇒ Note: CBackup provides many other useful features that can make your backup tasks much easier. You can try them in Settings for free:

Scheduler: You can choose from 4 different scheduled modes, including One time only mode, Daily mode, Weekly mode, and Monthly mode. In this way, you can set up automatic computer backup for free.

File Filter: This feature allows you to choose certain types of files to back up. There are some different backup options, including backing up all files, excluding file types, or backing up file types. You can choose one according to your needs. 

Email Notification: Once you fill in your email address, you can receive the notification when the backup task is successful/fails.

Besides, CBackup offers some outstanding features for free. You can take advantage of them when you need them.

• Combine cloud storage: With this feature, you can get more free cloud storage space. It allows you to merge unlimited cloud storage accounts into one combined cloud for a larger cloud storage space.

• Cloud-to-cloud sync: To transfer files between different cloud drive accounts, you can try the cloud-to-cloud sync feature in CBackup for free. And it allows you to add different accounts of Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and FTP/SFTP to CBackup.

Bonus tip: How to backup Outlook without software

There is another way to back up Outlook without software. In this way, you can back up Outlook emails to OneDrive directly. Here are the detailed steps to back up Outlook to OneDrive:

1. Log in to your Microsoft Outlook account on its website.

2. Go to the email that needs to be backed up and choose the three dots icon on the top right.

3. Choose the Print option. When you see a preview, choose Print on the top left.

4. Then choose Save as PDF and click on the Save button.

5. You can type in the name of the file and click Save later.

6. After the above, go to the OneDrive website to log in to your account.

7. Click the Upload button at the top and choose the Outlook emails from your PC to add them to OneDrive.

Final thoughts

Reading here, we believe you know the easiest Outlook backup software and how to create a backup via the Outlook backup tool. You can back up Outlook to Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox without effort. Besides, you can back up Outlook to OneDrive via the website directly. The professional backup software is free and provides full backup features, so why not have a try?