Software & Apps > MS Office 89 89 people found this article helpful How to Back up or Copy Your Outlook Information Don't lose important emails and contacts, back up your Outlook PST file By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on April 7, 2021 Reviewed by Jon Fisher Reviewed by Jon Fisher Wichita Technical Institute Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email MS Office Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint What to Know Go to File > Info > Account Settings > Data Files, highlight the PST file, select Open File Location, then copy the highlighted file.Go to the folder in which you want the backup or copy of the PST file, then select Home > Paste or press Ctrl+V.Outlook stores the most important data in PST files, but some settings are stored in separate files, which you may also want to back up. This article explains how to make a copy of your Outlook emails so that you have a backup copy. Instructions apply to Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010, and Outlook for Microsoft 365. Back up or Copy Your Outlook Mail, Contacts, and Other Data Creating a backup copy of your Personal Folders (.pst) files or moving them to a different computer can be as easy as copying a single file. Go to File and select Info. Select Account Settings > Account Settings. In the Account Settings dialog box, select the Data Files tab. In the Name list, highlight the PST file that you want to archive. OST files (files in the Location column that have the .ost extension) store emails for Exchange and IMAP email accounts. You can copy these OST files, but to extract data from OST files, use a third-party tool such as OST to PST Converter. Select Open File Location. In Windows File Explorer, right-click the highlighted file. Select Copy. If you don't want to right-click the file, go to the Home tab and select Copy. Or, if you prefer keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl+C. Go to the folder in which you want the backup or copy of the PST file, then select Home > Paste. Or, press Ctrl+V. Close the Windows Explorer window. In the Account Settings dialog box, select Close. What Outlook Data and Preferences Are Not Kept in PST Files? Outlook stores the most important data in PST files, but some settings are stored in separate files, which you may want to back up or copy as well. Specifically, these files and their default locations include: Email signatures created in Outlook: .rtf, .txt and .htm files (one for each format) named like the signature are located in \Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SignaturesSettings for send and receive schedules in Outlook: .srs files (Outlook.srs, for example) are located in \Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\OutlookEmails saved as templates for re-use: .oft files (Template.oft, for example) are located in \Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\TemplatesDictionaries that contain words you do not want the Outlook spelling checker to mark as misspellings: .dic files (Custom.dic, for example) are located in \Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProofPrinter settings (including page sizes and header or footer text) for emails created in Outlook: OutlPrnt is located in \Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit