How to Backup Outlook Emails: A Complete Guide (with screenshots)

How to back up and restore Outlook emails – individual user

Recovering Deleted Emails from the Deleted Items folder 

• Log in to your Outlook account. 

• Navigate to the Deleted Items folder on the left pane.

• Select the email that you want to restore.

• Click on the button Restore on the menu bar. This will restore the email o the inbox.

Recovering permanently deleted emails

• Navigate to the Deleted Items folder.

• Click on the link Recover items deleted from this folder. 

• This will take you to the Recoverable Items folder.

• Select the email that must be restored and click on the button Restore.

Take Outlook backup and restore using Import/Export Wizard 

How to use the export option as an Outlook backup tool?

• Launch Outlook desktop application

• Select the File option in the menu bar. 

• Navigate to Open & Export and select the option Import/Export. This will open the Import/Export wizard.

• Choose the option Export to a file and click on Next.

• Next, select the desired folder – for example, Inbox –  that has to be exported and click on Next. 

• In the next screen, click on the Browse button to choose the location in which you want to store the exported email(s). 

• Click on the button Finish. The selected folder –Inbox – will be exported as a pst file and will be kept in the specified location. 

How to use the import option as a restore tool? 

• Launch Outlook Desktop Application.

• Click on the option File in the menu bar. 

• Navigate to Open & Export and select the option Import/Export. This will open the Import/Export wizard. 

• Choose the option, Import from another program or file and click on Next.

• Choose the file type Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.

• Next, click on the Browse button to choose the location from where you want to import the already backed up emails and click on Next.

• Choose if you want to import the entire folder or only specific sub-folders – if there are any – by clicking on the folder to be imported

• Review the settings and click on the Finish button.

Limitations

• You might have to regularly take manual backup to stay up-to-date with the emails. 

• Older backups must be regularly deleted to save local storage space.

• You cannot Export or Import individual emails using this wizard.  

Take Outlook backup & restore emails using drag and drop

• Drag and drop to back up your emails.

• Drag and drop individual files to a folder in your computer to take an Outlook backup. 

How to drag and drop individual emails?

• Create a folder on your computer to store the backup emails. 

• Launch desktop Outlook. Drag and Drop all the important emails into the previously created folder.

How to restore? 

Email forwarding as an Outlook backup tool 

Setting up email forwarding for Outlook on the web 

• Go to the Outlook toolbar, select Settings and click on Mail.

• Navigate to Accounts → Forwarding.

• Next, click on the radio button Start forwarding and type the email address to which a copy of your email has to be forwarded. 

• Click the Save button.

Setting up email forwarding for free Outlook 

• Click on the Settings icon – on the top right corner – and select View all Outlook settings. This will open a new pop-up window within the application. 

• Navigate to Mail and select the Forwarding option.

• Click on the radio button Start forwarding and type the email address to which a copy of your email has to be forwarded

• Check the box, keep a copy of forwarded messages to ensure that the original emails in your mailbox are not deleted after forwarding. 

• Click on Save. 

How to back up and restore Outlook emails- for IT administrators 

Using Outlook litigation hold as an alternative to backup 

So, how is litigation hold related to back up? 

Limitations 

Using eDiscovery as an alternative to Outlook backup 

Limitations: 

• Each user has limited storage available. If you delete emails to stay within the storage limit, deleted emails cannot be recovered. Also, if the user account is deleted, then the backup data is lost forever. 

• eDiscovery feature is available only for users who have subscribed to Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 plans. 

Take Outlook backup using third-party tools 

Using third-party tools like SysCloud, you can: 

• Easily restore specific emails or all the emails to their account in just a few clicks without the trouble of importing and exporting. 

• Retain safe copies of organizational data even after events like employee exits and account deletions; saving license costs. 

• Take Outlook backup and restore even without any technical expertise.

• Take faster backup even for large teams. 

• Have more data security with increased administrator controls and secure data storage location

Here is how you can take an Outlook backup using SysCloud,

• Launch SysCloud’s application using this link apps.syscloud.com

• Log in to Office 365 using your admin credentials. 

• Logging in will take you to the home page of the SysCloud application. 

• Navigate to Backup in the menu bar and select Start Backup from the drop-down menu.

• Next, select the accounts of the users you want to backup. 

• Click on the Add button on the right side of the screen. 

• This will add the selected users to the backup list.

• Click the button Start Backup to start the backup progress.

How to restore using third-party tools 

• Open the SysCloud application. 

• Navigate to Backup on the menu bar and select Archive & Restore from the drop-down menu.

• A list of users whose data has already been backed up and the daily backup progress will appear on the screen. 

• Click on the user(s) whose data needs to be restored. 

• The page will list all the data of the user(s), including their emails that have been backed up. 

• Select the email(s) to be restored. 

• Click on the button Restore and choose the option Selected Items – to restore selected emails – or select All option – to restore all emails. 

Why should you back up Outlook?

• Keeping a backup will help organizations and industries comply with data security and retention regulations in the event of a data loss. 

• Backing up your emails and documents will help your organization in the event of litigation.

• Easy Data Retrieval & Increased Business Productivity 

• Backing up your emails and documents can help you access lost data, and therefore, it would not affect your business continuity.

• Even if an employee permanently deletes important data deliberately or you lose your important documents due to an unforeseen disaster, having a backup can save your organization from loss. 

• Keeping a backup of all your business data can save you in the event of a ransomware attack. 

Outlook backup best practices for IT administrators

• Always use long passwords that have twelve or more characters containing special characters, numbers, and uppercase. 

• Never record your password anywhere. Use a password manager that allows encryption if necessary. 

• Enable multi-step authentication

• Enhance your email security by authenticating your email with DKIM, authorizing senders with SPF, and preventing outgoing spam with DMARC to prevent spoofing. 

• Schedule an automatic Outlook backup – using applications like SysCloud.

• Take manual Outlook backup whenever required, especially during peak season or during critical project delivery. 

• Always monitor your Outlook backup storage and make sure that you have not exceeded the backup subscription limits.

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