Where does Outlook 2003 save emails, contacts, tasks, etc? What are the names and extensions?

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what Outlook 2003 uses for the file names/extensions for emails, contacts, tasks, etc. AND if the default file locations can be changed to another directory?

I am trying to automate the back-up process at the organization I work for (approx. 10 personal computers). If I could figure out how to have these Outlook items save themselves into a paticular folder (like "My Documents" for example), then I could use Microsoft XP's Back Up feature to compress this data and save it to a networked drive.

So, does anyone here have knowledge of Outlook 2003, and can tell me what the program saves these files as, and their default location?

Thank you very much!

jimmywalt said: I was wondering if anyone could tell me what Outlook 2003 uses for the file names/extensions for emails, contacts, tasks, etc. AND if the default file locations can be changed to another directory?

I am trying to automate the back-up process at the organization I work for (approx. 10 personal computers). If I could figure out how to have these Outlook items save themselves into a paticular folder (like "My Documents" for example), then I could use Microsoft XP's Back Up feature to compress this data and save it to a networked drive.

So, does anyone here have knowledge of Outlook 2003, and can tell me what the program saves these files as, and their default location?

Thank you very much!

You can save it where ever you want. Create a folder and go to setting and archive it. You can always click auto archive to creat rules for saving it. For additional details click Help> <AutoArchive> as key word.

Just search for outlook.pst on your hard drive.

I dont think you can import emails back from the mailboxes directly.
You can save them to a network drive , but to import them back directly isnt easy.

You will have to export the mailboxes and contacts as PST files and them import them.

With ten computers at your site, consider just putting a server in place. You can buy a low-end Dell server with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 installed for less than $1000. Add a second inexpensive SATA drive and you now have a RAID1 array, which makes it nearly impossible to have data loss caused by a failed hard drive.

Now you have your own Exchange Server, complete with email, shared calendars, shared contacts, etc. And you can back up EVERYBODY'S email with just one backup (a backup of the Exchange Server email store). Not to mention you can automatically direct everybody's critical data files to the server also and back up those at the same time. That way you don't have to worry about how to back up ten computers. Just make backups of ONE computer (the server).

Use this free download from Microsoft to backup outlook files