Backup is not working

A

ayis

I use Outlook 2003 and I cannot perform a backup. When I try (File -> Backup)
the "save backup" button in dialog box window is greyed out, so that I cannot
complete the backup. Any ideas how to fix this?
 
B

Brian Tillman

ayis said:
I use Outlook 2003 and I cannot perform a backup. When I try (File ->
Backup) the "save backup" button in dialog box window is greyed out,
so that I cannot complete the backup. Any ideas how to fix this?
Click to expand...

You have to close Outlook before the backup procedure will run and enable
that button.
 
A

ayis

Thanks Brian. I think that I did not explain my problem well enough: My
backup button is enabled within Outlook. It's when the backup window opens,
when the "save backup" button is greyed. The comment in the window also says
: "no file set for backup". It looks to me that Outlook cannot identofy the
"Personal Folders" to back up. The rest of the buttons are enabled: Open
Backup, Cancel, Options.

If your suggestion is still what I need to do, where can I find the backup
program with Outlook closed? I can only access the backup button from within
the Outlook program (file -> backup). Thanks in advance for your help.
 
B

Brian Tillman

ayis said:
Thanks Brian. I think that I did not explain my problem well enough:
My backup button is enabled within Outlook. It's when the backup
window opens, when the "save backup" button is greyed. The comment in
the window also says
"Personal Folders" to back up. The rest of the buttons are enabled:
Open Backup, Cancel, Options.
Click to expand...

And what do you see when you click Options?
 
A

ayis

Aside from the "Remind me to backup every 1 days", in the "Backup files"
window I see "No personal folders files are currently open" and the "File
location" window is empty.
 
B

Brian Tillman

ayis said:
Aside from the "Remind me to backup every 1 days", in the "Backup
files" window I see "No personal folders files are currently open"
and the "File location" window is empty.
Click to expand...

In Outlook, when you click File>Data File Management, what do you see?
 
A

ayis

I see a line that reads: Personal Files, then the path to the right
outlook.pst file, and a comment that reads "Mail delivery location".

Is there a way to attach a jpg file to my replies, so I can send you screen
shots, instead of trying to describe the screens?

Thanks,

Ayis
 
B

Brian Tillman

ayis said:
I see a line that reads: Personal Files, then the path to the right
outlook.pst file, and a comment that reads "Mail delivery location".

Is there a way to attach a jpg file to my replies, so I can send you
screen shots, instead of trying to describe the screens?
Click to expand...

Create your images and post them to any of the free image-hosting web sites,
then post the URL to those images here.
 
A

ayis

I am stunped too. It is as if Outlook does not know it's using the
outlook.pst file, though it is obviously using it. Thanks for trying. It
looks like I will need to backup this particular file manually, by the old
drag and drop method. Best. Ayis
 
A

ayis

Hi Brian,

I just tried something and it worked. I renamed the outlook.pst file to
outlook2.pst. After instructing Outlook to look for the new file, when I
strated it, the backup function is working. I hope renaming the default
outlook.pst file will not screw up other things though. What do you think?
 
B

Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]

I just tried something and it worked. I renamed the outlook.pst file to
outlook2.pst. After instructing Outlook to look for the new file, when I
strated it, the backup function is working. I hope renaming the default
outlook.pst file will not screw up other things though. What do you think?
Click to expand...

What you did should be fine.
 
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