You might want to do this if you are closing an email account, or preparing to move to a new email service provider.

You export items by creating a .pst file, which is an Outlook Data File that contains your messages and other Outlook items and is saved on your computer.

What data is exported?

  • When Outlook exports email, contacts, and calendar info to a .pst, it makes a copy of the information. Nothing leaves Outlook. You'll still see and have access to your email, contacts, and calendar in Outlook.
  • When Outlook exports emails, it includes any attachments to the emails.

The instructions below refer to Outlook 2013 and 2016. Instructions for older version of Outlook are similar, and can be found at https://support.office.com/en-....

Outlook 2013 and 2016

At the top of your Outlook ribbon, choose File.

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Choose Open & Export > Import/Export.

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Choose Export to a file.

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Click Outlook Data File (.pst), and then click Next.

Select the name of the email account to export, as shown in the picture below. Only information for one account can be exported information at a time.

Make sure that the Include subfolders check box is selected. This way everything in the account will be exported: Calendar, Contacts, and Inbox. Choose Next.


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Click Browse to select where to save the Outlook Data File (.pst). Type a file name, and then click OK to continue.

We recommend saving this to a memory stick (the files can be quite large) from where you can then import your email, contacts, and calendar to Outlook on a new machine or with a different provider.