Creating a Microsoft Outlook backup of your emails and settings is something important as a lot can happen in the future and we have to be in a position that we can restore our emails and settings back from a data loss. In Microsoft Outlook 2007 all the data is stored in .pst file(s) and all the account settings in the registry.

In case an Exchange Server exists all your data are stored in the server and not localy in your machine. In your machine only the synchronized file is saved with .ost extension which is for offline use.

To backup our data files:

32Bit: Start -> Control Panel -> Mail -> Data Files
64bit: Start -> Control Panel -> View 32-Bit Control Panel Items -> Mail -> Data Files
Navigate to the path shown: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\ and copy the .pst file to a backup location.

To backup our account settings:

Start -> Run -> regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook
Right click Outlook, click on export and save it with your .pst backup file(s)

To restore Data and Account Settings

Restoring Data and Account Settings is even easier than backup. Just copy the .pst file back to the location that you copy it from and run the registry exported file to import back your account settings.