I see a lot of Outlook users often ask how to export emails from Outlook.com to a USB drive or any other external storage media. But no such relevant blog or article is there to help them. In this article, I will explain how you can back up your email messages from Outlook.com.
Although the desktop email applications are immensely popular these days, some users are still using web-based email services. Outlook.com is one of them and quite popular with email users. Generally, it is somewhat like the Gmail service of Google. Many users think that Outlook.com and Outlook Online both are the same. But they are wrong. Outlook.com is the upgraded version of Windows Live Hotmail, a discontinued email service of Microsoft. The existing Hotmail users can easily log into Outlook.com by using their old email address, i.e. abc@hotmail.com. But now users cannot create new email accounts with that domain. Instead, they can only create an email address of the @outlook.com domain. However, the email accounts with both the domains are supported by Outlook.com.
I have around 1000 emails in the Inbox folder of Outlook.com, and I would like to save them on a USB drive. Can I do that? If so, please tell me how?
Sometimes it may happen that you need to save your email messages from Outlook.com in a USB drive or any other storage media for the backup purpose. How will you do that? Will you copy the email messages from Outlook.com? Do you think it is as easy as it sounds? It is going to be very difficult, I am telling you. But do not worry. I will help you.
You can take the backup of your email messages from Outlook.com using a desktop email application, such as Microsoft Outlook. If you already have Outlook installed on your computer, you can simply configure your Outlook.com email account with the Outlook application. And then you can easily export your email messages, contact, calendar, and other data to an Outlook data file (PST). Once you have successfully configured your Outlook.com email account with Microsoft Outlook, you can then export all your email messages and other data to a personal storage table (PST). And then you can save the PST file in your USB drive or any other storage media.
By taking backup of your Outlook.com data, you can save your important emails and attachments from being lost due to accidental deletion or any other reason. In addition, you can use the backup file to transfer your mailbox data from one computer to another.
Step 1: First, open Microsoft Outlook. Click the File tab on the taskbar > Info > Add Account to add a new email account in Outlook.
Step 2: A new dialog box Add Account will appear on your screen. Here you need to enter the details of your email account, such as Your Name, E-mail Address, Password. Click Next to start the configuration process.
Step 3: The configuration is being conducted. Microsoft Outlook is completing the setup for your account. This might take several minutes. Once you see “Congratulations! Your email account was successfully configured and is ready to use” message, click the Finish button.
You will now see all your Outlook.com emails and mailbox folders in Microsoft Outlook. Close Microsoft Outlook, and then insert the USB drive or any other storage media into the USB port on your computer.
Step 4: Now open Microsoft Outlook again. Click the File tab on the taskbar > Open & Export > Import/Export.
Step 5: On Import and Export Wizard, you need to choose an action to perform. Since you want to back up your mailbox data, select Export to a file and click Next to continue the process.
Step 6: On the Export to a File dialog box, select Outlook Data File (.pst) and again click Next to continue the process.
Step 7: On the Export Outlook Data File dialog box, select the mailbox folder to export from. You can either select any specific mailbox folder(s) or the complete Outlook data file. You can also include the subfolders (if any) by clicking the Include subfolders option.
Step 8: Now click the Browse button and select the USB drive as a location where you want to save your PST file backup. You can change the name of the PST file (if necessary). Click OK to confirm it.
Step 9: The selected path will be shown in the edit box next to the Browse button. Now select the options to manage the duplicate items. Finally, click Finish to start the process.
Step 10: Within a few minutes, the PST file backup will be created and saved in the USB drive.
You can now safely eject the USB drive from your PC.
The above manual solution is very effective but not at all convenient. It will take a lot of time and effort to perform each and every step manually. In case you have a large number of email messages, it may take several hours. So if you are looking for an automated solution, I would recommend the Hotmail Backup Tool from SysInfoTools Software. This software is one of the most recommended solutions to back up the emails from the Hotmail and Outlook.com accounts to the local computer. It is an easy-to-use application that requires no prior technical expertise. Any technical or novice user can easily use this software. Unlike the manual solution, it is quick, reliable, and highly efficient. Below are the key features that you are getting in this software:
By using the demo version of this Hotmail Backup tool, you can take the backup of the first 50 email messages of each mailbox folder you select. To overcome this limitation, you can purchase the licensed version of this software.
The Hotmail Backup Tool from SysInfoTools is available for both Windows and Mac systems. You can simply download the software from the official website of SysInfoTools Software and then you can install it on your computer. The installation is very easy and simple. Once you have installed the software, double-click it and follow the steps shown below:
Step 1: On the home screen of the SysInfo Hotmail Backup tool, log into your Outlook.com account by entering the correct email ID and password.
Step 2: Now select the email file format from the given options: EML, EMLX, MSG, MBOX, PST, HTML, PDF, MHT, etc.
Step 3: Select the mailbox folder you want to back up. You can also filter the mailbox data by specifying a date range. Then click Next to start the backup process.
Step 4: The process is being conducted on your system. It may take some time so do not cancel the process.
Step 5: Within a few minutes, the process will be completed and all the selected emails will be saved into the file format you have chosen earlier. Click OK and close the software application.
Note: Please note that –
The article has explained how to export emails from Outlook.com to a USB drive or any other storage media. We have discussed two different methods to do that – manual and professional. The manual method is good, but it may take a lot of time and effort. On the other hand, a professional solution like the Hotmail Backup tool is an advanced way to take the backup of Outlook.com emails.