Email remains one of the greatest productivity tools of all time and if Outlook is what you’re using then this tip may help you become more efficient.

There are times when we need save all email accounts that have been setup in MS Outlook. And I am a person who use Outlook as my email center where all email messages including those using Gmail services get collected. I don’t think opening one email mailbox after another is efficient especially if you have more than a handful of accounts to manage.

So whenever I need to re-format my computer or moving to a new notebook, I resorted to copying all the account details manually and to tell you the truth I did not enjoy it. Sadly, Microsoft did not provide an easy way to backup email accounts. There is a data file import/export method for messages, contacts, calendar and everything else except accounts info. Yes, you can use Windows transfer utility but it’s so inflexible I would rather not using it.

So what I do?

I usually take an image snapshot and read from it when restoring. This was until I found a desktop utility called Outlook Backup Toolbox(OBT). It’s a 30-day FREE demo version.

Actually I have come across quite a few commercial Outlook backup tools but I did not want to pay for something I probably use just a couple of times a year if any.

OBT will help you backup and restore any Outlook data file you like - be it address book, email messages and email accounts info.

When doing backup, you get a single file with all the above selected data archived within.

Restore is simply done by clicking the Restore button and providing the actual filename to restore from.

Give it a try and I hope you like it.