MS outlook

ormus

my friend wants to back up and save her email files from outlook (office 2003?) to her usb pen drive.
how does she do it? and what file type will it be?
(i dont use the prog, so havent a clue)

Chippy_Minton

They are .pst files, usually outlook.pst and other .pst file(s) if she has archived the emails. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287070

daniellaB

She needs to backup outlook.pst and archive.pst; a search will turn both files up, but make sure you have 'Show hidden files and folders' ticked inside Folder Options.

ormus

thx for that. im sure she will manage it now.
any idea how many (average) emails she will fit on a 256 or 512mb flash pen drive?

isofa

The size of the PST file will vary wildly, and determined by all sorts of factors, including: if e-mails have attachments, how long the e-mails are, if they are HTML format, if she uses outlook for Calendars, Tasks etc.

It's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string.

For reference, A years worth of my e-mails, in Outlook, that's many thousand - but without attachments is around 100Mb (I always save the attachments to a folder and delete from the original e-mail).

ormus

thx for that, i realise that is a bit like the length of string, but she wanted a rough idea.
she wants to borrow another flash drive (just in case) and ive only got a 512mb one spare.

scheming_gypsy

also depends if she compresses her .pst file after deleting emails.

if she searches for *.pst it'll tell the the size of each file.

ormus

many thx all. she managed to export them all. (about 2 yrs worth).
she did it today ok. fitted on 1 x 256mb pen drive ok. about 55mb worth!
not too many attachments then eh?