To save a single message to a local folder, open it, and in Outlook
2003, click File > Save As, or in Outlook 2007 click the Office
button and choose Save As twice. In both versions, navigate to the
folder you want to use, choose a file type in the Save as type
drop-down menu, and click Save. Note that in Outlook 2003, the message
subject becomes the file name, but in Outlook 2007 you have to give the
file a name.
The two most common formats for e-mail are HTML (.htm or .html) and
Text Only (.txt): the former opens the message in a browser and
preserves the look of the original, but the latter ensures that the
message will open in just about any program.
You can also save multiple messages simultaneously by Ctrl-clicking to
select them, or Ctrl-A to save them all, and then choosing File >
Save As in Outlook 2003, or the Office button and Save As twice in
Outlook 2007. They'll all be saved as a single text file, and you'll
have to give the file a name. Each message in the file begins with the
word "From".
To move an entire folder to your hard drive or other local storage,
click File > Import and Export, choose Export to a file, click Next,
select Comma Separated Values (Windows), click Next again, choose the
folder you want to export, click Next yet again, browse to the location
you want to store the folder (unless you want to go with the folder and
file name Outlook chose), give the file a name, click Next once more,
and then Finish.  Export the contents of an Outlook folder via the Import and Export wizard.
You could also choose to export the folder as a single Excel or Access
file, but using either Comma Separated Values (Windows) or Tab
Separated Values (Windows) makes the file much easier to read in Word.
Back up the Outlook way via archiving. You may also want to
protect your mail, contacts, tasks, and calendar entries within Outlook
by archiving your data. The primary advantage of archiving is that
everything is backed up with a single action. The disadvantage is that
everything lives in a single file, and the data is accessible only in
Outlook.
To archive in Outlook 2003, click File > Archive > Personal
Folders (or select individual folders, if you wish), enter the date,
choose a location for your archive file, give it a name (or go with
Outlook's default in both cases), and click OK. You can ensure that
your archive includes everything by checking Include items with "Do Not
AutoArchive" checked.  Archive all your Outlook data by choosing Personal Folders and the current date in the Archive dialog box.
You may also want to note the folder Outlook uses to store this and
other files by default, because Microsoft does a good job of making the
location impossible to guess. In XP, the path is C:\Documents and
Settings\your login name\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook. In Vista, it's C:\Users\your login
name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.
Let Outlook do the archiving for you. I get nervous when
programs start doing things behind the scenes, but you might prefer to
have Outlook archive a folder automatically. To do so, right-click the
folder and choose Properties > AutoArchive. If you select Archive
items in this folder using the default settings, click Default Archive
Settings, and choose your preferred options. Another way to set up
auto-archiving is to click Archive this folder using these settings,
and make your choices. As far as I can tell, it's six of one, half a
dozen of the other.  Make your auto-archive selections in Outlook's AutoArchive dialog box.
Retrieve your archived data. An archive won't do you much good
if you can't access it, and Outlook doesn't make the process
particularly easy: Click File > Import and Export > Import from
another program or file > Next > Personal Folder File (.pst) >
Next. Now browse to and select your archive file, click Do not import
duplicates, and choose Next > Finish. Source:news.com/8301-10784_3-9872315-7.html
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