If you have a POP account, Outlook stores all your emails and appointments in a Personal Storage Table (.pst) file. A PST file can be imported into Outlook. This makes it ideal for moving your email to a new computer or creating a backup you can save in case your computer crashes or becomes inoperable.
A backup Outlook PST file can help you in getting back your Outlook account’s contents in case your original PST file gets lost or corrupted. Damaged PST files need to be repaired as quickly as possible or else you will lose all of the data that is contained in them.
Another thing we wondered was, why make a backup Outlook pst file?
Making a backup Outlook PST file is a good way of ensuring that even if your PST file becomes corrupted, you have a backup present that you can utilize for retrieving your lost PST data. PST files are part of the MS Outlook. They are the default files of this software which contain a large amount of data.
When you run Outlook for the first time, the necessary data files are created automatically. Sometimes additional data files are needed. Outlook Data Files (.pst) are saved on your computer in the Documents[&Outlook&] Files folder. Older messages and items that you don’t use regularly can be archived to an Outlook Data File (.pst).
On the Data Files tab, click Add. Click the Outlook Data File (.pst) file that you want to open, and then click OK. Outlook Data File (.pst) created by using Outlook 2010 are saved on your computer in the Documents\Outlook Files folder.
One article claimed that because the .pst file contains all data that is stored in the MAPI folders that Outlook uses, the file can be very large. To reduce the size of the .pst file, select Compact Now in the Settings window .
How do I use personal storage folders (pst files)?
This article describes how to use personal storage folders, also known as .pst files, to back up data that you created in Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, and Microsoft Office Outlook 2002. You can back up messages, contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, and journal entries in .pst files.
How to back up only a part of your Outlook data?
If you want to back up only a part of your Outlook data, you can create a new backup .pst file of only the data that you want to save. This is also known as exporting .pst file data. For example, you might want to use this section if you have important information in only some folders and you have other, less important items in much larger folders.