You should already have a routine to backup your documents on your PC. Outlook Express has its own address book which it keeps in a special folder so it won't be backed up when you do your regular backups.

By following these steps you'll be able to create a copy of your address book which you can then save into My Documents, ready for your next backup.

Step 1       Exporting your address book from Outlook Express

Open Outlook Express to begin

Step 2       Selecting export type

While you are viewing the Inbox, click File and move over the Export option in the menu which appears, and select Address Book from the submenu.

Step 3       Selecting the export type

Select Text File from the list of options, and then press Export to continue to the next step

Step 4       Choosing where to save

You now need to decide where you'd like to save the file that will store your address details. Click the Browse button to begin       The default location for your exported file is the My Documents folder - if you're happy with this, just type a filename into the box towards the bottom, and then click on Save     You'll be returned back to this screen, so click on Next to continue with the export

Step 5       Selecting the export fields

Unless you have used Outlook Express as something other than a regular email address book, you can skip this step - just click Finish (If you have used the optional fields, or are not sure, put a tick in every box before you press Finish)

Step 6       Exporting your address book from Outlook Express

The export will take just a few seconds if you only have a few entries in your address book, but could take a couple of minutes if you have a lot. Once the export finishes, you'll see this window - just press OK to finish.

Once you have exported your file, remember to back it up. Hopefully you are already in the habit of backing up everything in your "My Documents" folder, so provided you selected the default location for saving your exported file, your next backup should catch the new file.