Anyone know anything about MS Outlook utility called PFBACKUP?

General Questions
#1

Can anyone tell me about an Outlook (that’s the FULL version NOT Express) plug-in called PFBACKUP?

I swear I read about this in a thread I actually started, but darned if I can find anyone’s reference to it but mine.

I posted here at the good ol’ SDMB cuz I could get no answers from Microsoft or Dell (unless I pay them).

I wanted to transfer my old email from my old Win98SE system to my new WinXP system.

Somewhere I learned about this add-in called PFBACKUP. It adds a new menu item under the “File” pulldown menu, called Backup. The utility asks you if you want to “Create” a backup or “Install” a backup. Simple. By selecting Create, on my Win98 system, it created an Outlook-Backup.PST that is a backup of all my “Personal Folders” in Outlook. So fa, So good.

Now, I’ve been using my new WinXP system for a while, and I have newer email on it.

Now, at last, here’s my question: If I transfer the .PST backup file to my XP system, run the PFBACKUP and select “Install”, will it MERGE my old email into my new system, or will it Over-Write it? Thereby loosing all my new email?

Yes, I’ve already searched MS’s “extensive knowlege base”:rolleyes: and it’s about as verbose as the back of a penny.

Hep me guys!

#2

I could swear I responded to this earlier today, but the hamsters seem to have lost my reply. Well, here’s the short version:

I don’t know what PFBACKUP might do, but if you just use the File/Import command that’s built in to Outlook, and point it to the .PST backup file that PFBACKUP created, it will merge the info in that backup file with the existing info in Outlook. In fact, it will give you the opportunity to filter out duplicates (like in your Contacts list). So no, it won’t wipe out your new mail, and you won’t lose anything.

I’ve got to say that I’m a bit mystified about the purpose of PFBACKUP, since Outlook already has perfectly good routines for exporting its contents to a backup file, and for importing such a file.

#3

Thanks Early. Perfectly good routines? You mean the Import Export thing? It might be, but I could never figger out how to use it, and Help is no help at all.

Could you explain Import/Export?

And thanks for replying. I was beginning to think I was being ignored.

#4

pfbackup is for regular backing up of your folders in case they get screwed up. You can specify how regularly you wish it to backup your stuff.

#5

Well, to create a backup of everything you’ve got in Outlook (I’ve got Outlook 2002, part of Office XP, but the routine will be very similar in other versions - bear in mind that Outlook Express is a different kettle of fish entirely!):
[ul]
[li]File, Import/Export…[/li][li]Choose Export to a file, click Next[/li][li]Choose Personal folder file (.pst), click Next[/li][li]Choose Personal Folders (you could just make backups of individual folders, but this will get everything)[/li][li]Check the box for Include subfolders, click Next[/li][li]Now you have to tell it where to save the backup file - click Browse, and navigate to My Documents, and name the file something obvious, like OutlookBackup.pst[/li][li]Click Finish[/li][/ul]
To import from a .pst file, just reverse the process, choosing File, Import/Export, Import from another program or file, Personal Folder file (.pst), etc.

When you import from another file, you can tell it how to handle duplicates (it gives you little radio buttons to choose from). This is any easy choice with your mail messages (choose the radio button for “Do not import duplicates”), but you should pay attention with things like Contacts. So, if you’ve got a Contact entry for “Early Out” in your “live” Outlook folder, when you import from another .pst file, like a backup, and there’s a Contact entry in that file for the same person, do you want it to overwrite the “live” entry, create another entry for “Early Out,” or ignore the duplicate in the backup file, and leave the “live” one alone? Safest choice is to tell it not to import duplicates, since the “live” stuff in Outlook is probably what you want to hang onto.

#6

Ah, thanks for the clarification, dylan_73. For that, I just have a little batch file that copies my Outlook .pst file (along with some other files that I change frequently) to my CD-RW.