Backup Your Outlook 2010 Emails: An Ultimate Guide

Importance Of Creating Backup for Outlook 2010

Outlook 2010, the successor to Outlook 2007, was made available for manufacturing on July 22, 2010, and retail on September 22, 2010. It improves Outlook 2007 in several ways, including a new user interface with a ribbon toolbar, quick search, conversation view, and message preview pane. It also supports Windows 7 Touch Gestures as well as Hotmail accounts.

Outlook 2010 is still widely used as an email and contact manager. As a result, creating a backup for Outlook 2010 is important for several reasons:

  • Outlook stores all your emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes in a PST file. You could lose all your important data if this file gets corrupted, damaged, or accidentally deleted. Creating a backup ensures you can recover your data in case of such an event.
  • If your computer's hard drive crashes, you could lose all your Outlook data. A backup copy ensures you can restore your data on a new computer or hard drive.
  • Creating a backup of your Outlook data allows you to keep a copy of your emails and contacts offsite, providing an extra layer of security against data breaches or cyber-attacks.

Creating a backup of your Outlook data gives you peace of mind, knowing you can easily recover your data in case of an unforeseen event. But how do you back up your Outlook emails 2010? You can use the built-in export function, which allows you to backup your Outlook email to PST. You can also use third-party Outlook backup software that automates the backup process and provides additional features such as scheduling and incremental backups. These are some of the various methods available, which are discussed below.

Method 1: Backup Outlook 2010 Using Third-Party Backup Software

With Outlook 2010's built-in export feature, you can quickly create a backup. However, you must manually back up each time, as no automatic backup option exists. Assume you want to improve the backup process's intelligence and accessibility. In that case, it would be better use third-party backup software.

Using third-party backup software to create a backup of your Outlook 2010 data can be a good option for several reasons:

  • Simplicity: Third-party backup software offers a more straightforward and user-friendly interface than Outlook's built-in export function, making it easier for users to create and manage backups.
  • Automation: Third-party backup software often includes automation features that allow you to schedule backups automatically, saving you time and effort.
  • Additional features: Third-party backup software often offers additional features such as incremental backups, encryption, compression, and cloud backup options, which can provide added value to users.
  • Free trial: Many third-party backup software options offer a free trial, allowing users to test the software before committing to purchasing it.

Here, Wondershare Ubackit is recommended. With its advanced features and user-friendly interface, UBackit make backing up your Outlook 2010 emails a breeze.

wondershare ubackit

Wondershare UBackit - Your Reliable Outlook Backup Software

Back up Outlook emails to local hard drives or external storage devices effectively, safely, and completely.

Provide automatic backup to back up your email files daily, weekly, monthly, or non-stop.

Set a password to protect your backups, keeping your data confidential should it be stolen, lost, or compromised.

Support incremental backup, which saves only the changes made to your files since the last backup, reducing backup time and saving storage space.

Additionally, Ubackit offers a 1-month free trial, so users can try the software before deciding whether to purchase it.

UBackit makes it simple and automatic to back up your PST files in Outlook 2010. The specific steps are as follows:

  • Step 1: Begin by launching Wondershare UBackit and navigating to the left-hand menu to select Backup & Restore. Next, click the Create New button and select the Outlook Backup option to initiate a backup of your Google files.
    click outlook backup
  • Step 2:UBackit will then automatically scan for your Outlook 2010 email files. Just wait for a few seconds.
    search for outlook 2010 email files
  • Step 3: Check the boxes beside the Outlook 2010 files you want to backup. Once you have selected the files, click the Select button to proceed.
    select outlook 2010 pst file to backup
  • Step 4: Now, you need to choose a target location where you want to save the backup files. This could be either an internal drive or any other external source, such as a connected USB flash drive.
    choose outlook backup destination
  • Step 5. With this selection complete, your Outlook 2010 PST file will be backed up securely. You can also set up an automatic daily, weekly, monthly, or non-stop backup using the Schedule option and access a password-protected function by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner and choosing the Encrypt option.
    finishing the outlook data backup

Wondershare UBackit offers a user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, making it an excellent choice for backing up Outlook files. There are also many other third-party backup software options available in the market that users can consider using for creating a backup of their Outlook 2010 data. Two other popular options include Remo Outlook Backup and Migrate and Safe PST Backup.

Method 2: Export Outlook 2010 Emails as .pst Files

Another safe and reliable way to make an Outlook 2010 backup is to let Microsoft Outlook export a .pst file for you automatically. Apart from emails, this will also save contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes. Perform the following steps to backup Outlook 2010 by exporting emails as .pst files:

  • Step 1. Launch your Outlook 2010 and navigate to File > Options > Advanced > Export.
    click the export option
  • Step 2. The Import and Export Wizard will launch. Press Export to a file and then click Next.
    import and export wizard
  • Step 3. Click Next after selecting Outlook Data File (.pst).
    select outlook data file
  • Step 4. Select the email account you want to backup and check the Include subfolders box. It will export the contents of all folders, including mail folders, contacts, calendars, tasks, notes, and journals. Alternatively, you can export only one folder. Because selecting multiple folders is impossible, you must do so individually if you want to back up a few folders.
    export pst file outlook 2010
  • Step 5. The wizard will recommend saving a copy of your .pst file to the following location: C: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Outlook Files\backup.pstIf. Select Finish if you have no objections. To save your Outlook 2010 backup to a different location, click the Browse button, navigate to the desired location, and click OK.
    save a copy of .pst file

Note:

  • Select the desired option for duplicate items if you export to an existing .pst file. In most cases, the default Replace duplicates with items exported works fine.
  • If you've previously exported your Outlook 2010 data, the previous folder and file name will be displayed. Enter a new file name before clicking OK to avoid overwriting the previous backup.
  • If you create a new .pst file, Outlook will suggest password-protecting it, which makes sense if your Outlook items contain sensitive information, and you want to ensure that only you can access them. Enter and confirm a password in this case, then click OK. If you do not want the backup to be password protected, leave both fields blank and click
  • When exporting to an existing password protected .pst file, enter the password you previously used.
  • When exporting to an existing non-protected.pst file, Outlook will start the export process without displaying the password dialog box.

Then, done! Remember that exporting a large .pst file may take some time, and the progress bar will remain on the screen until the backup process is finished. Wait patiently.

Method 3: Backup Outlook 2010 Emails to OneDrive

Exporting and saving PST files of Outlook 2010 to OneDrive makes them safe and accessible across all your devices. You can back up up to 5 GB of files in OneDrive for free, up to 1 TB with a Microsoft 365 subscription, or up to 2 TB with add-ons. To backup Microsoft Outlook 2010 to OneDrive, follow the steps below:

  • Step 1. Go to the OneDrive settings page by selecting the OneDrive cloud icon > OneDrive Help and Settings icon > Settings.
    go to the onedrive settings page
  • Step 2. If you've got a Backup tab or Sync and Backup tab, click Manage Backup. Choose the folders you want to include in your OneDrive. To begin backing up a folder, select any folder that does not have the Files backed up checkbox, and then click Start backup. And if you want to stop the backup process, select Stop backup and confirm your request.
    backup outlook 2010 to onedrive

Note:

  • When you stop the backup procedure, the files that OneDrive has already backed up remain in the OneDrive folder and do not appear in your device folder.
  • You'll notice an icon titled “Where are my files” in the folder that you stopped backing up, which is a shortcut to your OneDrive folders. To access your files, click the icon to open the OneDrive folder.
  • If you want those files to be in your device folder rather than OneDrive, manually move them from the OneDrive folder to your device folder. After you stop the backup, the new files will not be backed up by OneDrive.
  • To move the files, open the Where are my files folder in OneDrive, then select the files you want to move to your device folder and drag them there.

Method 4: Copy and Paste .pst File in Outlook 2010 Manually

First and foremost, copying and pasting the .pst file will delete all current data in your account. If you want to keep current and backed-up data, import the .pst file rather than manually pasting it. Importing will combine current and backup data into a single.pst file.

If you have just created a new Outlook account, which creates a new empty .pst file, and are confident that your Outlook backup is correct and undamaged, you can copy/paste the backed-up pst to the location of the current .pst file and save it there under the same name, overwriting the current .pst.

Otherwise, it may be advisable to test the backup first. Knowing that the current .pst file still works will make testing and restoring less stressful. Follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Check the exact name and location of your current.pst file in Outlook by going to File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Data files tab.
    data files tab
  • Step 2: Exit Outlook. Then, navigate to the current .pst file location and rename the file with the old postfix, e.g., Outlook-old.pst.
  • Step 3: Paste the backed-up .pst file to the same location and save it with the same name minus the old postfix. So, you now have two.pst files:
    1. Outlook-old.pst (the current pst file that you want to replace with the backup)
    2. Outlook-new.pst (the backup)
  • Step 4: Open Outlook again tests the restored .pst if it’s good, and then delete the renamed file (Outlook-old.pst) to free up some space on your C: drive.

Note:

  • Instead of saving the .pst file to the default location, save it to another drive so you won't have to rescue your Outlook data if C: is reformatted. If you do this, you will be prompted to locate the .pst file when you launch Outlook. You select the .pst file by clicking the Browse button and navigating to where you saved it.
  • When restoring Outlook after a crash, the original PST file may be missing or damaged. Outlook will also display a warning prompting you to specify the PST file location in this case. You close Outlook and proceed as described above to replace the damaged .pst file with the backup.
  • When restoring a PST file for an account configured to keep a copy of messages on the server, emails for the specified time are re-downloaded.

Conclusion

Backing up your Outlook 2010 data is an important task that should be addressed. By creating regular backups of your emails, contacts, and calendar entries, you can protect yourself from unexpected data loss due to computer crashes or other technical issues.

Several methods to back up your Outlook 2010 emails include using the built-in export feature or third-party backup tools. Whatever method you choose, it's important to follow best practices and keep multiple copies of your backup data in different locations to ensure its safety. By taking these steps, and you can ensure that your Outlook 2010 PST file remains secure and accessible whenever you need it.