Different Ways To Backup Email For Both Individuals And Businesses

Understand how email backup is one of the most crucial aspects of information management.

Email backup is one of the most crucial aspects of information management, yet many organizations ignore it. An organization has to backup email regularly without fail in case there is a need for the retrieval of emails in future for any purposes. An email backup policy must become an integral part of the business continuity plan.

 

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Importance Of Backup Email

Creating a backup email means making copies of the essential files in the inbox and saving it either locally or on a cloud server. If the organization loses the original document for any reason, it can immediately restore it from the backup email.

Data loss occurs due to many reasons. The most prevalent causes are system failure, unintentional error by employees, data theft, or environmental factors like fires and floods. Data backups safeguard the enterprise and help free up space on the email server. It is easy to implement and allows businesses to avoid deploying expensive and time-consuming data restoration processes.

 

How To Backup Outlook 2010 Emails?

There are various methods to backup Outlook 2010 emails as briefly described below.

Export Contents To The Outlook.PST File

MS Outlook’s export function allows users to back up all the emails, including the subfolders. They can go to File, click on Open & Export, select Import/Export, and then Export to a file.

The .PST file will contain the emails, calendar entries, and contacts. Users can also use this file on another computer that is running a different version of Outlook. Some third-party apps also support the.PST format.

How To Restore Outlook Backup From .PST File?

To import the backup data from the .PST file, use the following steps:

  1. Select File, then Open & Export, and click on Import/Export. It will open the Import/Export wizard.
  2. Next, click on Import using a program or file.
  3. In the next screen, select the Outlook Backup File (.pst), which you previously saved.
  4. Then, select the Office 365 mailbox if you wish to import the contents to the mailbox.
  5. If not importing to the Office 365 mailbox, select Import items and save it to the current folder.
  6. Click on Finish.

Drag Emails Manually From Outlook Folder To Desktop To Backup Email Address

This option is suitable for individuals who do not want to back up the entire archive. They can select and drag individual emails to a Windows Explorer folder or Finder on Mac. The complete backup of the emails will be created as .MSG files in Windows containing all the attachments and content. Since .MSG format is copyright of Outlook, users can only reopen the saved emails on Outlook. They can download the MSG converter software to open these files on other clients. For Mac users, the emails will appear as .EML files, which users can open on any email client.

Use The ‘Save As’ Command In The Email Backup Wizard On Outlook

For users who want to save only a few messages on Outlook can open the email backup wizard by clicking on File and then choose Save As. The advantage of backup email using this method is that it saves the emails in universal formats like RTF, HTML, and text. However, the users need to save the attachments individually.

 

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How To Back Up Gmail Messages?

Similar to Outlook, Gmail backup also has multiple methods, as explained below.

Backup Email Gmail Using Google Takeout

It is the most convenient method for Gmail users to backup email. They can download and export the entire Google data, including emails through Google Takeout. Users can do it using the following steps:

  1. Open Google Takeout
  2. Select all the Google Service(s) to be included in the backup.
  3. Select the delivery method (Dropbox or downloadable email)
  4. Choose export frequency. It can range from once per month to a few months per year.
  5. The emails get saved as .MBOX files and users can access it at any later stage.

Use Email Backup Software

Gmail users can also use email clients like Thunderbird or Outlook to backup email address contents via POP. They get the option to save the emails directly from the application.
In Thunderbird, they can select the emails, and choose ‘Save As’ after right-clicking on them. It will create a backup of all the messages as .EML files.

 

Best Way To Backup Email For Large Inboxes

Users who have large inboxes must save their emails in batches. They can take the help of the free VBS scripts to backup emails in the required format. They can also deploy third-party apps that have customizable features and are easier to operate than a script. Merely backing up is not an ultimate measure to protect the data. Businesses must make sure that they update the backups routinely. Additionally, they must design and deploy filters to organize necessary emails and systems to ensure that all the business-related communications are secure.

 

Other Suggestions On How To Backup Email Account

There are other options to export emails for Outlook and Gmail users. They require users to save the emails to PDFs and then forward them to the personal mailbox. However, there are downsides to this approach. Making multiple emails to PDFs is a time and resource-consuming process. Besides, the PDFs don’t contain the file attachments. Users have to save them separately. Still, it becomes a robust backup email solution for those users who want to store only a few critical emails.

Emails play a crucial role in business communication. They contain the essential component of business continuity – business-critical data. Individual mailboxes also have confidential data like bank account updates, family conversations, etc. Hence both businesses and individuals must backup emails. It helps in speedy data recovery in case of disasters striking the mailboxes.

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