Have you got a backup solution? Have you ever thought about what you'd do if your emails, contacts and calendar all disappeared due to a catastrophic event like fire? This month's tech tip is how to backup all your Outlook data if you don't have a backup solution in place already. You can checkout out our backup solutions here.

First, start Outlook and select IMPORT AND EXPORT from the FILE menu.

You'll see the IMPORT AND EXPORT WIZARD window, just like below.

You then need to select the option to EXPORT TO A FILE from the list and click the NEXT button.

Now we need to select the type of export we'd like to do. PERSONAL FOLDER FILE (.PST) is what we want. Now we click NEXT again.

Now we see the EXPORT PERSONAL FOLDERS window. There are two things that need to be done here.
1. Select the PERSONAL FOLDERS from the top of the list of folders.
2. Place a checkmark in the box INCLUDE SUBFOLDERS so we get everything in the mailbox.
3. Click NEXT.

Next we need to select a location and file name to export out data to. Type the location that makes sense to you or use the BROWSE button to select what's right for you and click FINISH. We suggest that you place the file in you're My Documents folder.

This takes us to the last step click OK on the CREATE MICROSOFT PERSONAL FOLDER window and you're done. The file OUTLOOK_BACKUP.PST will be found inside My Documents.

As an added precaution you can burn this file to a CD or DVD and store it some place safe.