How to Automatically Backup Your Outlook Emails to an External Hard Drive: 3 Ways

The methods in this document apply to Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.

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Do you know how to “export” emails from Outlook? I'd like to back them up to my external hard drive, but I don't know where Outlook keeps its mail files on my computer. If anyone knows how to “export Outlook emails to a hard drive,” please let me know.

Whether you use Outlook for business or personal purposes, regularly backing up your Outlook emails is crucial to prevent data loss. If you're looking for ways to save Outlook emails to your local disk or transfer emails from one Outlook account to another, you've come to the right place. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through three effective methods to save Outlook emails to your local drive or external hard disk step by step.

Method 1: How to Auto-Save Outlook Emails to Your Hard Drive

Emails, including new messages, replies, and forwards, constantly flood your Outlook inbox. Soon, you might have a large number of important emails. Instead of spending time exporting Outlook data or copying PST/OST files one by one, you may consider using a professional backup tool – Todo Backup.

It's a powerful and user-friendly tool that automatically and swiftly backs up your Outlook emails. Not only does it allow you to save your Outlook mail to local folders, such as your hard drive, desktop, or external hard disk, but it also backs up personal data, including emails, calendars, contacts, and important documents. More importantly, you can set up an automatic backup option to have the backup done daily, weekly, monthly, or triggered automatically upon specific events.

More key features and advantages of Todo Backup:

• Perform a full backup of files and system with just one click
• Migrate Windows 10 to SSD without reinstallation
• Resize partitions or clone hard drive for effortless disk upgrades and boosted PC performance
• Advanced backup options for comprehensive protection, including full, incremental, or differential backups

Download this Outlook email backup tool now to automatically save your Outlook emails to your hard drive or external hard disk.

Step 1: Launch Todo Backup, click "Create Backup" on the main interface, and then click the big question mark to select what to backup.

**Step 2:** Click the downward-pointing arrow next to “**App Data**.”

There, you'll see all the items that can be backed up. Find and check “Microsoft Outlook.” Choose the email account from which you want to back up your emails, contacts, or calendar, then click “OK.”

Step 4: Then click “Save Location” to choose a location to back up Outlook.

**Step 5:** You can choose to save the backup file to another local drive on your computer, an external hard drive, a network, cloud storage, or a NAS. We generally recommend saving it to an external hard drive or the cloud.

6. If you like, use the Options button to schedule automatic backups (daily, weekly, or monthly, or when changes are made) and differential or incremental backups. Click Backup Now to start the Outlook backup process; when it's done, the completed task will appear as a card on the left.

This powerful feature lets you easily transfer your Outlook email between computers, which comes in handy when upgrading machines. And, in case you accidentally delete an email from Outlook, the ability to permanently recover deleted emails in Outlook can help you get back important information.

The second method is to back up your Outlook mail by using the Import/Export Wizard.

If you don't want to use any third-party Outlook backup utility, the simplest way to back up your emails is by using the Outlook Import/Export Wizard to save your emails to your hard drive. The wizard allows you to save your Outlook emails, which are stored in an OST file, as PST files.

This will save all items other than Outlook email (contacts, notes, calendar, tasks, and journals, etc.) to the PST file. Here's how:

**IMPORTANT**: This method only works if Outlook is available and connected to an Exchange server. If you cannot access Outlook, or if you are unable to save your emails to your hard drive using the Import/Export wizard, skip to [Using the AutoArchive feature for Outlook emails](#part1).

First, launch Microsoft Outlook, log in, and click on “File” > “Open & Export,” and then select “Import/Export.”

Step 2: In the Import/Export Wizard, choose Export to a file, and then click Next.

Backup Outlook emails with Import/Export Wizard

3. Click “Outlook Data File (.pst)”, then click “Next”. Select “Inbox” as the folder to export or expand, or choose another relevant folder. Click “Next” again.

Backup Outlook emails with Import/Export Wizard 2

4. If you want to back up Outlook to an external hard drive, connect it to your computer. If a dialogue box pops up, click “Cancel” to proceed.

5. Click “Browse,” select the external hard drive from the “Drives” list, and name your backup file. Click “OK.”

Click “Export to Disk”.

6. Click “Next,” and then “Finish.” If prompted, enter your password and click “OK.” If not, click “Cancel.”

This way, your Outlook email is stored in a file on your hard drive called a PST. You can import that PST into any Outlook or Office 365 account to access your email and other items.

Third way: Manually export Outlook e-mail to your hard drive

To search for an Outlook email on a PC and manually copy it to a .pst or .ost file on another computer, follow these steps:

First, figure out where Outlook puts your mail: Launch Microsoft Outlook, log in, and choose File → Account Settings.

<img src=”/images/en/resource/outlook-backup-3.png” width=“561” height=“273” alt=“Locate Outlook Email Folders”>

Step 2. Click “Data Files,” and find the exact location of your PST and OST files on your computer.

3. To open the .PST or .OST file in File Explorer, click Open file location.

Figure 1: Save an Outlook e-mail as a .eml file on your hard drive.

4. If you're copying a .pst or .ost file to an internal or external hard drive on your computer, see File storage locations.

1. Press the `Win + R` keys to open the Run dialog box, then type: `%APPDATA%` and click "OK".

2. Locate the exact position where Outlook saves your .pst or .ost files: ``` drive:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook drive:\Users\Your_Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook drive:\Users\Your_Username\Documents\Outlook Files drive:\Users\Your_Username\My Documents\Outlook Files drive:\Documents and Settings\Your_Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook ``` Please note that these paths might vary depending on your version of Windows and individual settings. In some cases, you may need to look for the "Contacts" or "Mail" folders instead of directly searching for .pst or .ost files.

Step 6: Then, you can copy the .pst or .ost files and save them to a local drive or external hard disk for backup purposes.

The message is clear.

The three methods outlined in this article will help you export Outlook emails to your hard drive or an external one. Both manual and automated solutions are presented. Due to the shortcomings of the manual approach, we recommend giving priority to an automatic Outlook mail backup tool.

With the help of Todo Backup, you can easily and automatically back up all your Outlook mail data to a local hard drive, an external hard drive, or a USB flash drive on a regular basis without losing any messages. This is undoubtedly the fastest and safest way to create a backup.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Save Outlook Emails to the Hard Drive

The following topics about backing up Outlook e-mail are closely related. Review the summaries if you have questions.

How do I save my Outlook e-mail to an external hard drive?

To save Outlook emails to an external hard drive, email backup software can come in handy.

Launch and run tools Todo Backup, and select “Email” from the main window.

2. Use Outlook to sync your email to your backup location. Select your external hard drive here. Enter your Outlook password, and choose the email files you want to back up.

3. Start the backup. Click Start to immediately back up your mail files.

Can I save my Outlook emails to Google Drive?

You can use Todo Backup to back up your Outlook emails and save the backup image to an internal/external hard drive, network drive, or even free cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, and CD/DVD.

How do I back up my emails to an external hard drive?

Please back up your e-mail.

1. Choose File > Open and Export > Import/Export.

2. Click “Save as File,” then click “Next.”

3. Click “Outlook Data File” (.pst), then click “Next.”

4. Select the mail folders you want to back up, and click “Next.”

5. Choose the location and name for your “Backup” file, then select Finish.

To make sure that no one can access your files, enter and confirm a password, then click OK.