backing up emails contacts and favourites to cd-r

mkennedy

hi.
can anyone tell me how I can backup my outlook contacts, my IE favourites and my email folders (outlook/outlook express) to external storage media like a cd-r.

i'm not interested in using an actual backup program as such to do the job if I don't have to-
instead I was wondering if it's possible to find the location of these files on the computer and then just copy these files to a cd-r.

failing that however I suppose I would try a backup program.

any advice much appreciated.

kaizersoze

Creat a folder on your desktop called Email backup (or similar).
For Favourites, go to Document and Settings, double click on your username. Then copy & paste the favourites folder (gold star) into your backup folder.
For Outlook/OE contacts, open outlook/OE, go to File-->Import & Export. Select 'Export to file'-->Comma Separated Values (csv), select browse to locate your folder and finish.
Repeat for your Outlook mail folders but select 'Personal Folder File (.pst) instead of CSV.
For OE mail folders, go to Start-->Search and enter *.dbx (incl. the *), make sure 'search hidden files' is ticked and hit search. You'll get a list of files called inbox.dbx, sent items.dbx etc, then copy & paste the ones you want into your backup folder. These are database files so you won't be able to open them and read your mails. They can only be opened by Outlook/OE or a program like this http://www.mailnavigator.com/read_outlook_express_dbx_files.html, or a similar free one.

Now burn your backup folder onto a cd.

mkennedy

thanks kaisersoze.

I got the favourites backed up no problem.

but just about backing up the outlook contacts:
I exported them as csv files as you said but they seem to be saved in the folder as excel files as far as I can see. in other words the exported file opens as an excel document- does that sound right?

also just about the OE dbx files: are these also to be found if I go into documents and settings>my username>local settings>application data>identities>and click thru' to the outlook express folder?

thanks again.

kaizersoze

mkennedy wrote:

thanks kaisersoze.
but just about backing up the outlook contacts:
I exported them as csv files as you said but they seem to be saved in the folder as excel files as far as I can see. in other words the exported file opens as an excel document- does that sound right?

Yeah thats right. They do save as an excel file. To get them back into Outlook/OE at a future date, choose import instead of export.

also just about the OE dbx files: are these also to be found if I go into documents and settings>my username>local settings>application data>identities>and click thru' to the outlook express folder?

Thats the location alright. It's just handier to search.:)

mkennedy

thanks.
that was a big help.