You can selectively archive your Outlook data for backup purposes, or to reduce the size of your mailbox. This method allows you to manually select what you wish to archive and move it to a Personal Folder file. It is four step process that will explain how to create personal folders, move information into those folders, compact the folders to save space and then backup the folders.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT let your Personal Folder (.pst file) reach 2 GB. You can have corruption in Personal Folders that are as large as 2 GB.
Step 1: Create a Personal Folder
- To create a Personal Folder, go to File > Data File Management.
- Click Add in the New Outlook Data File dialog box to create a new file.
- Select Office Outlook Personal Folders File.
- Select Local Disk (C:) to save the file.
- Then Click the Create New Folder icon
. - Name the New Folder Outlook Archive (or whatever you choose to).
- Make sure you are saving the file in the new folder (Outlook Archive) and then name the file. Select OK.
- Change the Name.(By default it is "Personal Folders")
- Keep encryption set to Compressible Encryption.
- Do NOT put a password on your on your archive file. If you forget the password, you will never be able to open it.
- Select OK and then Close.
You will now be able to see this new folder (Personal Folders) in Outlook. The file you created appears as a separate item in the Outlook folder list. If you are not able to see this go to the menu View > Folder List.
Step 2: Move Information to Personal Folders
You will need to manually move items from your mailbox to your Personal Folders. You may either move individual items (to select multiple non-consecutive items, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting each item) or copy entire folders into your Personal Folders.
Step 3: Backup Your Archive Folder
It is critical to remember that your Personal Folders are on your local hard drive, so you must back it up to ensure that you have no data loss if something were to happen to your computer. You can backup your file to a CD or another server that is backed up regularly.
Please note that if you ever need to recover data from a .pst file—the file that stores all your Personal Folder data—on a CD, you will first need to copy the .pst file to your hard drive. Then, you will need to ensure that the .pst file is not read-only. To do this right-click on the .pst file in a Windows Explorer window and choose Properties. At the bottom of the Properties window, uncheck the Read-only box.