BACKING UP AND RESTORING EMAILS, ADDRESS BOOK AND CALENDAR

Disclaimer:
The following advice is based on our knowledge and experience of backing up emails using Microsoft Entourage and Mac Mail.

We are not the authors of these programs and do not answer questions related to these products.

Our customer support team will only deal with questions concerning the backup and restore process.

This advice is specific to Mac Mail and Entourage only. For advice on backing up email using different email programs, please refer to the Help files within the application.

Backing Up Microsoft Entourage

From within the Microsoft Entourage application:

1. Select the File menu.
2. Select Export.
3. A dialogue box called "Export" will appear
4. Ensure that Entourage Archive is selected and then click the next arrow
5. Click the next arrow again (choosing to keep items in Entourage)
6. You will now be asked to name your backup - we would suggest that you store it in your documents folder
7. Click Save
8. It is strongly recommended that all Email definitions have a reduced backup cycle, this is because your Email files will tend to double in size with each backup cycle (reduce from the default 30 to between 1 & 7).
9. Once the backup is complete - click on Done

10. To back up this file we would recommend that you first close down the Entourage program and then follow the normal process for backing up.

    IMPORTANT
    Please note that you will need to follow this process to produce the backup file every time you wish to backup your emails, address book or calendar. For example: if you want to backup your e-mail folder/s daily, you will need to carry out the above process on daily basis. The backup file is a static document and only saves the emails selected at the time you backup.

Backing Up Mac Mail

To backup Mac Mail you will need to back up a specific folder within your Users accounts.  You must backup the complete folder and ensure that Mac Mail is not open whilst a backup is taking place.

folder you need to back up is located in:

Mac HD > Users > xxx(user) > Library > Mail

Please note that you are performing a complete backup of Mac Mail and not individual emails.

Restoring Mac Mail Files

Firstly make sure that Mac Mail is not open when you perform a restore. For a simple restore you should restore to the original location. This will overwrite any files that you may have in Mac Mail. Therefore any emails received after the last backup will be lost.

Restoring to Another Location

When the backup is created, we automatically creates a folder structure. If you restore to the desktop this folder structure is replicated.

When you now import to Mac Mail you first need to choose Mail for OS X and then when choosing the file to install, you will need to follow the folder structure down until you find the inbox. This will then import into a new folder (called Import). You can now drag the emails from this folder to the proper inbox if required.