How to save & move Outlook settings, etc.?

[juanantoniod]

Hello everyone,

I recently had an incident with Outlook that caused me to lose my email account settings. Although I moved the Outlook.PST folder "correctly" -- if there is such a way -- it still would not access my email accounts, so I had to delete them and set them up again.

Is there a way to save all the Outlook information that is not in the PST file? I want to do this so that if I ever have to reinstall Outlook, not only will I have my PST file backed up, I will have the settings as well. These include not only the email accounts, but all of the customization options also. If so, how, and if not, why?

Thanks!

 

[tw33k]

This might help you...Back up your custom Outlook settings

 

[juanantoniod]

tw33k --

tw33k,

First of all, love the user name and the avatar. Cool! That was a helpful link, but I don't think it applies to more recent versions of Outlook. Either that, or it was for Exchange Server peeps... Because it refers to the <Profile Name>. I have never heard of Outlook individual using Profile Names. Also, it does not tell how to save the email accounts' settings. I did not know where to look for these files, so I went to Windows Explorer, and searched my C: for outcmd.dat, and there was none.

I just cannot fathom that Microsoft makes it so difficult to migrate to other versions, machines, installations, etc. They can't be that lame, can they?

Please let me know if you have other resources. I really appreciate your input!

 

[tw33k]

Did you check both "Roaming" and "Local" folders?

 

[juanantoniod]

No luck...

I just looked in those folders, and there were files there, but not the ones that were identified in the resource. Also, even if I did back up these files, how would I get Outlook to use them? When you install Outlook, ther is some sort of "counter" that "knows" you are starting for the first time and sets everything up for you. It does not even offer to import previous settings, or even the Outlook.pst file. It just boggles my mind that Outlook has been around so long, and there is no way to *easily* move these?

If it were possible, I would just call Microsoft after I buy the Office release version, but I don't think even they would know. I wonder why they make it so difficult? :shock:

I do appreciate your efforts! Thanks.

 

[juanantoniod]

Closing comments and desires...

Well, I finally figured out how to get my system to recognize the Macrium Images I previously made, so I am going to restore to a clean system restore I made before I started having problems, then re-do making the Data partition, and moving the files appropriately. So, I am good to go. There are a couple of things that would still help though:

1. A Windows 7 OS save settings/export settings tool which would save the customizations I have made since the clean, stable install;

2. An Outlook settings transfer tool, which would transfer or export the email setups, as well as all of the Outlook Options I have personally configured; and

3. A way to determine what changes I have made to my system since the Macrium Image was created. That way, I can pick and choose which apps I want to reinstall and which ones I do not. I tried going in to the System Restore settings, and it turns out that, when I created the Data partition and moved the files, it turned off the System Restore. Nevertheless, there were many changes made before that, which may have created restore points that I could use to identify the changes that need to be re-made. If there is a 'back door' into the System Restore log, or another system change log, it would be very advantageous to have.

So, if anyone can help me with any of these, I would have the utmost gratitude. Bill2 was kind and diligent enough to locate a superb tool for exporting my Internet Explorer settings, so that will prove most helpful. If I had such a tool for Outlook [2010], and Windows 7 OS settings, I would be ecstatic!

Thanks to all who contributed to my dilemma. I cannot express in words how grateful I am for you sharing your knowledge and insights with me. I will be "awarding rep" later today, after things settle out and I find out which posts I can give the rep to. This forum kind of limits the rep I can spread around, but I will try to give as much credit where it is due.

With utmost appreciation,

 

[Barman58]

Hi Antonio - If you are looking at using Outlook 2010 have a look here ....

Outlook 2010 Backup and File Locations

have not checked things out fully myself yet but does look comprehensive

 

[juanantoniod]

Very helpful, except...

Thanks, Nigel!

That information was as helpful as it could be, given this:

"Your accounts are stored in the registry and need to be recreated on the new computer."

I don't mean to sound pompous, but I have had a computer since before there was external storage, and then, it seemed miraculous when the cassette drive storage was introduced. But, still, we have no way of saving our email account setups, and must re-do these each and every time we "restore" Outlook? Is it just me that thinks Microsoft should get its head out of its "cloud" and go back to making the existing apps work?

It's 2010, and this is what we have to show for it? I'm puzzled!

 

[alphanumeric]

It was easy to export your account settings in office 2000. I haven't found a way to do it with any version after that though. They are stored somewhere. After setting them up in office 2003 and going to office 2010 I didn't have to do anything. Office 2010 found everything, account settings, rules, and my PST file, even though I had un-installed office 2003. I just went back to office 2003 and it was the same deal, it found all my info even though I had un-installed office 2010. My rules didn't work and I had to clear them out using the outlook.exe /cleanrules command. They probably would have been fine if I hadn't updated them in outlook 2010. I regularly export my PST file and save it to a thumb drive. I export my rules too. It would be nice to be able to export my account settings too though.

 

[juanantoniod]

By chance, I had another posting thread on a different forum of the forums, asking about how to do this for IE. It was Bill2 who recommended BackRex for IE. [He deserves a medal for this find!] Backup Settings, Profile and Customizations - BackRex Software Luckily, they also have a settings saver for Windows OS customizations, as well as Outlook, just not 2010, yet. I do copy my PST file too, but as I learned the hard way, it is just not enough for Outlook.

 

[alphanumeric]

I haven't tried this yet, I only just downloaded the resource kit tools, but it looks promising. Create an Outlook Profile file (*.PRF)

 

[juanantoniod]

Creating Outlook Profile

I haven't tried this yet, I only just downloaded the resource kit tools, but it looks promising. Create an Outlook Profile file (*.PRF)

This does look promising. I will have to give it a try and report back. It's on my Prioritized Daily Task list...

 

[pcs3657]

Solution

Back Up or Copy Your Outlook Mail, Contacts and Other Data

To create a copy of your mail, contacts, calendar and other data in Outlook for backup or copying:

• ›› Step by Step Screenshot Walkthrough

• Go to your Outlook folder in Windows Explorer.
• Highlight all files ending in ".pst".
  • Make sure in particular your selection includes "outlook.pst" and "archive.pst".
  • If you have Windows Explorer configured not to show file extensions for known formats, look for Microsoft Office Outlook Personal Folders files.
• Select Edit | Copy from the menu to copy the selected files.
• Open the folder where you want to put your backup copies in Windows Explorer.
  • Ideally, this will be on another computer, on a removable disk stored far away from your home, somewhere on the Internet, or at least on a different hard disk.
• Select Edit | Paste from the menu to paste your .pst files to the backup location

Restore from Your Outlook Backup

Your backup copy of Outlook data is now in place, ready to be restored when you need it.

Restore Outlook Mail, Contacts and Other Data from a Backup

To restore your mail, contacts and other data from a backup copy of an Outlook PST file:

• Select File | Import and Export... from the menu in Outlook.
• Select Import from another program or file.
• Click Next.
• Highlight Personal Folder File (PST).
• Click Next again.
• Now use the Browse button to select the backup copy of the PST file you want to recover from your backup location.
• Make sure Replace duplicates with items imported is selected.
• Click Next.
• Finish the import process with Finish.

Usually, the default import settings work fine, but you may want to tweak them to suit your needs.

 

[alphanumeric]

I haven't tried this yet, I only just downloaded the resource kit tools, but it looks promising. Create an Outlook Profile file (*.PRF)

This does look promising. I will have to give it a try and report back. It's on my Prioritized Daily Task list...

It's near the top of my to do list too, I'm going to be doing a clean install in a week or two and it will be a good test to see if it works. I probably won't get to it for a couple of days though maybe even not till early next week. My backs been acting up and things tend to be put on the back burner when that happens. There are times where I would like to get my hands on one or two of the guys at Microsoft that worked on Office. I use a lot of rules to sort my e-mail into folders. every rule i create has "on this machine only" automatically added to it. If I leave it in the rule does not work. I guess it's because I'm on pop3 e-mail. Anyway I have to edit it out of every rule I create. And another thing that peeves me is when I import my rules back into a clean install of Outlook I get a popup telling me some options aren't set when I try to click OK and save them. They are and everything looks OK. But once i save them every one has "select folder" where the actual folder name was. Then I have to go in and edit every one of them. The folders where there too because I had imported my PST file first.

 

[juanantoniod]

Yeahhh, it is not just the PST file that is necessary for Outlook to run. There are the custom dictionary files, the settings files for options you have changed, rules, and not to mention email accounts setup. For some reaon the stupidos at MS Office never thought that people would be migrating either between versions, but also between machines, or installs, and need these settings too! The entire MS campus, I think, is shrouded by a plague of not workingness... And now they've extended that to India, where the new motto is, just reset all of your settings back to the factory original. Yeah, right!

 

[tw33k]

I'm gonna test this and see how it goes...Outlook Backup - program to backup Microsoft Outlook

 

[juanantoniod]

Tw33k,

That program looks just a bit more certain of getting everything from Outlook backed up than BackRex, but I do not know, since I have not tried eiher. Please do let us know what you find out!

 

[tw33k]

It works perfectly. All my settings, contacts, tasks, rules etc were restored. The interface is easy to get around. You can't go wrong

 

[juanantoniod]

Don't trust this program

The program for backing up Outlook at outlookbackup.com is a fraud! Do not trust it with your data!

Tw33k, I read their "fine print" and, I was prepared to try the program and buy it if it worked, however it says that the trial only backs up the PST files. That is not the hard part. The hard part is the Outlook settings, such as email accounts, SMS accounts, and Options. Did you try a version of the program which did this, or did you buy the program before you tried it?

Please do let me know.

 

[Barman58]

Antonio,

As I suggested before Windows Easy Transfer purports to be able to transfer Email data between machines.
As I have not actually used the application i am currently performing some tests to see if this is a valid claim - The way the program works means that although designed to transfer between machines it should work to restore settings to a re-installed machine also.
As you have said it is not a complete restore solution but I do believe that it may be usable for your purpose, as part of a system restore solution.
I will post back on any findings I make I know that DocBrown has used this application extensively and successfully so you may want to PM him for his thoughts on it's use