Where are my Outlook Emails and Contacts stored? Here's how to find them and how to back them up.

Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom made life 'easier' for us all by introducing "My Documents" many computer crashes ago. Around the same time it decided that we were not to be trusted with our emails and contacts and hid them from us! They are hidden in a file named outlook.pst and this file is further hidden in a sub, sub, sub folder in documents and settings.

Depending on the version of Windows and Outlook that you use, the default location varies so this makes it hard to track down. I have seen a few answers to this question on the Internet but they rely on you being able to open your Outlook program. This is not always possible. The following method will work even when Outlook doesn't!!

Well, here's where they are and how to find them:

1. Go to Control Panel
2. In XP open 'Mail'; In Vista/W7 Open User Accounts first and then choose Mail
3. Click on "Show Profiles"
4. Choose your username and click on Properties
5. Click Data files
6. Click on the required data file (probably only one to choose from)
7. Click on "Open Folder"
8. Copy and paste to your backup folder