Backup IMAP Emails Using MS Outlook

Any user can back up the configured IMAP account within Outlook, but as for the new Outlook versions 2013 and older, the configured IMAP accounts complete data gets saved in the OST file, it first needs to be converted to PST. Users can take advantage of the Import/Export feature in the Microsoft Outlook application for exporting OST file data of IMAP mailbox to Outlook PST file format.

To start with, user must ensure that IMAP account is well configured with the Outlook application and all the data like emails, contacts, calendars, etc. can be addressed on its interface. Let us perform the export of OST data to PST file using these steps.

  1. Run your Microsoft Outlook (2013, 2016 or 2019) application. From the File menu, select Open en & Export option and then click on the Import/Export option on the right pane.
backup-imap-emails-using-microsoft-outlook-01

2. A new page, Import and Export Wizard will get open. Select the option Export to a file from the list and click on Next.

backup-imap-emails-using-microsoft-outlook-02

3. On the Export to a file page, select the option Outlook Data File (.pst) and click on Next.

backup-imap-emails-using-microsoft-outlook-03

4. Now, select the top level folder with IMAP mailbox along with the displayed address. Make sure to check Include subfolders option. Click on Next.

backup-imap-emails-using-microsoft-outlook-04

Note: This Import/Export method exports only single mailbox at a time.

5. On the next opened page, click on Browse option and add the desired path location to save the exported PST file containing the configured IMAP account data. Also, you can manage the export of duplicate items with the given three options. Once done, click on Finish option.

backup-imap-emails-using-microsoft-outlook-05

6. The export of IMAP account OST data to PST file will get start and will get completed in time according the amount of data for export.

The OST file is now successfully converted to the Outlook PST file format. And this PST file can now be moved to other systems quite easily with the help of external devices and imported in its Outlook application via Import and Export feature. So, a secured backup of IMAP emails is created with this manual technique.

Note: Users can also take advantage of the Auto-archive feature in the new versions of the Microsoft Outlook application to archive the configured IMAP emails and save it to the PST format on the system location. This PST file will serve as a backup file for IMAP emails.

Or for fewer emails transport, drag and drop action can be utilized after creating a fresh PST file and then moving the desired emails from the IMAP account to the new mailbox folder manually using drag and drop actions.