How to Backup All Microsoft Office Files Online
February 12, 2008 – 3:55 pmAccording to Wikipedia, backup refers to “making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event”. For a typical home user, Microsoft Office files (word documents, excel spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations) are probably the most important type of files that no one can afford to lose. Therefore, these files need to be backup at another location for safekeeping.
The objective of this post is to show you how to backup all Microsoft Office documents online with a useful free service called MozyHome.
Why Backup Files Online with MozyHome
- Reliability - It won the PC Magazine Editor’s Choice for online backup category.
- You get 2GB of free online storage.
- The backup process is simple, even for home users. You can imagine Mozy as a set-and-forget-it backup.
- Safe online data transfer - your data will be encrypted with 128-bit SSL encryption during data transaction.
- Safe online storage - your files will be stored online with 448-bit Blowfish encryption.
- Backup can be scheduled.
- Incremental backup - the next backup after a full backup will only backs up newly added or changed files to speed up the process. Mozy will find all these type of files automatically, based on what you choose to backup.
Initial Backup Preparations
Remember that you can only backup 2GB of files. If you want more, you need to sign up for the MozyPro account for a reasonable fee. Make sure you have register for a MozyHome account, download Mozy client and setup Mozy Home based on the instructions here. Depending on the size of all your Microsoft Office files, you may need to leave your computer open for the backup process to finish, so make sure you reserve some time for this. Optionally, you may want to throttle Mozy bandwith usage so it will not interrupt your online activities such as web browsing.
Steps to Backup All Microsoft Office Files Online
1- Check for the Mozy client system icon on the system tray to make sure it is running.
2- Right click on the Mozy icon and click “Configure“.
3- On the “Backup Sets” tab, right click on the left pane and choose “Add Backup Set” to create a new backup set for your office files.
4- Give your backup set a name, for example: “Personal Office Documents“. Next, tick on the “My Computer” checkbox to select all drives and folders on your disk drives. On the “Rules” section, add all these Microsoft Office file extensions to the text box as shown on the image below - doc docx docm dotx dotm xls xlsx xlsm xltx xltm xlsb xlam ppt pptx potx potm ppam ppsx ppsm sldx sldm thmx. This is to make sure that Mozy will search and backup Microsoft Office files only.
5- Click the “Save” button to close the backup sets creation screen. Mozy will take some time to find all your Microsoft Office files from the hard disk.
6- From the backup sets left pane, tick only the checkbox for “Personal Office Documents” or the folder with your given name in step 4. Don’t worry about Mozy ticking other checkboxes automatically. That’s normal. Click the “Save” button to continue.
7- Right click on the Mozy system tray icon again and click “Status“. Next, click on the “Start Backup” button to instruct Mozy to start the backup process.
8- (optional) Once the backup process had finished, you can check out MozyHome backup log by clicking the “History” button on the status screen.
9- (optional) You may also want to schedule your backup at a certain time. Check out the “Schedule” tab on the Mozy configuration interface as in step 2.
The beauty of the Mozy backup client is that you only need to complete the above steps once. Once you have completed this, Mozy Home will automatically do the next backup for you, every time! With Mozy Home, you can be rest assured that your backup process will be a simple, automatic and secure. Try it today!
Tags: home backup, online backup, backup files online, mozy, mozyhome, backup tips
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14 Responses to “How to Backup All Microsoft Office Files Online”
I’m considering using the pro version… it has unlimited backup (for a small price of course)
By Friedbeef on Feb 13, 2008
I have heard about Mozy backup, but not used till now.
By Nirmal on Feb 13, 2008
mozy is where its at… $5 a month for unlimited backup, cant beat that!
By Computer Backup on Feb 14, 2008
@Nirmal: Try it buddy! One of the easiest service that I’ve used!
@Computer Backup: Yeah, the price is very affordable.
By Syahid A. on Feb 14, 2008
set-and-forget-it backup feature is good . I guess
it would automate backups . Well most often users tend to very selective about what to backup and what not to since it would be utilizing a good part of your bandwidth. I would recommend using ‘Backup to Email’ : all you need is just two clicks to backup.
By lucky v on Feb 15, 2008
I really like this free backup software utility, thanks for the tip.
Great site.
Regards.
By jsanderz on Feb 15, 2008
@jsanderz: Glad somebody like it as me too!
@lucky v: No worries about that, you can select as many files or folders that you want. You can even create multiple backup sets too.
By Syahid A. on Feb 16, 2008
mozy is where its at. free storage? who wouldnt take advantage of that?
By Computer Backup on Feb 23, 2008
Great utility, Thanks for sharing
By BlogsDNA on Jul 22, 2008
Haven’t you already posted this? I’m sure I’ve seen it before.
By Marshall Swindoll on Feb 22, 2009
@Marshall: Yeah, but this one is really old stuff man.
By Syahid A. on Feb 23, 2009