Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

Backing up Outlook Emails


  • Please log in to reply

#1
stevepierce

stevepierce

    New Member

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 7 posts
Hi
My 9 year old computer is now headed for the great silicone valley in the sky and its time to get a new base unit. The problem is I dont know how to back up my emails on Outlook and am scared to death half my hardware wont work and also that it will mess up my network. There are probably loads of things i havent even thought of. I have to email accounts one with my cable company and another through my website hosting company......Hope you can give me some good advice!
Many thanks in advance. By the way I have a external harddrive that I can back up to.
Steve
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
piper

piper

    Retired Staff

  • Retired Staff
  • 2,459 posts
Hi stevepierce. Welcome to Geeks to Go!

What version of Microsoft Outlook do you have currently and what version do you expect to have on your new computer? If they will the same version, then backing up and restoring your Outlook data will be simple.
  • 0

#3
stevepierce

stevepierce

    New Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • Pip
  • 7 posts
Hi Linda

Thanks for replying. It is Outlook 2002 and I would hope to get the latest version. Does this cause a problem!!
The other daft problem I have is that once I log out I have the devils own job trying to find my posts from my home page. I checked My Topics but it is not showing up.

Cheers

Steve
  • 0

#4
piper

piper

    Retired Staff

  • Retired Staff
  • 2,459 posts
Okay. From what I'm seeing, you can migrate Outlook XP to Outlook 2007. But the file format has changed slightly. So once you get your Outlook data in 2007, you can't move it back to XP without exporting it as Outlook 97-2002 format.

1. You need to write down your email account settings for both accounts. This includes user name, password, incoming and outgoing server names. You can see this information, except for password, by opening Outlook, clicking Tools menu, Email Accounts, View or Change Existing Accounts. Highlight each account and click Change to see all the set up information.

2. Export Data
  • Open Outlook
  • File menu
  • Import and Export
  • Export to a file
  • Personal Folder File (.pst)
  • Select the folder(s) to export, check Include Subfolders - you may have more than one folder in Outlook, depending on what kind of email accounts you have, and whether you've set up additional folders or have archive folders - you'll need to create export files for each main folder
  • Select a location and name for the export file
Now you'll burn the file to CD, put it on an external hard drive or USB thumbdrive, so you'll have it when you get the new computer.

See this link for information on opening the Outlook XP PST file in Outlook 2007. I'm not in a position to really assist with Outlook 2007 or Vista, as I haven't upgraded yet.


Now, about your posts - are you talking about your Geeks to Go posts? Once you sign in, look for "My Assistant" in the upper right corner. Click that, then you'll see "My last 10 posts". Or you can click "My Controls" to go into your Control Panel. On the left side, you'll see "View Topics". This will show you all your active topics.
  • 0

#5
bobmad

bobmad

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 344 posts
I would also copy my .nk2 file over to the new machine.
how to find it & copy it...
make sure you can see system and hidden files.... search for *.nk2 on your system drive (make sure you search hidden ans system {set this in advanced search settings})

Copy the file to your backup location (you said you had a hard drive to use for this).
once you setup and run outlook you should have a new *.nk2 file created. Overwrite the new with the old. (to the best of my knowledge nk2 file formats have not changed but just to be sure copy the new one to a different location so you can restore it if there are errors).

Oh, the NK2 file stores your auto-complete e-mail addresses for outlook. So when you start typing it suggests an address for you. I get very frustrated users when I don't copy this file for them when they change computers.
  • 0

#6
stevepierce

stevepierce

    New Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • Pip
  • 7 posts
Thanks guys
Im backing up now. As I dont think my PC will turn on tommorow, had a blue screen and no start up this morning with a memory dump. At least Ive backed everything up.
Dont know whats up with it, but one symptom is that it blacks out everytime I scroll web sites or use Outlook, just for a few seconds.....could that be fixeable?

Best Wishes
Steve
  • 0

#7
piper

piper

    Retired Staff

  • Retired Staff
  • 2,459 posts
It could be something fixable. We'd need the full error message from that blue screen (if you have it or if it happens again) and any kind of errors or warnings in the Event Log that correspond to the exact time of the black outs. However, since your computer is 9 years old, I'm not sure it'd be worth the time and effort. It's up to you. If you want to pursue, start a new thread in the Windows 2000, XP, 2003 forum.
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP