File Selection Guide

This guide offers instructions on how to locate and select the proper files for some of the most popular programs and common locations in Windows.

Choose from the following topics to learn which files are critical to backup and how to find them on your computer.

Common Windows Locations

Email and Contact Programs

Financial Programs

Microsoft® Office

If you need help selecting the proper files or finding a program not listed, please contact our technical support team.

My Documents

The My Documents folder most likely contains many of your important files. Programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access save data in My Documents.

The location of My Documents will vary depending on what version of Windows you're using.

  • Windows 95/98/98SE: C:\My Documents
  • Windows ME: C:\My Documents or C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents
  • Windows 2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents

Once you locate the My Documents folder, right click and select Add to Daily Backup.

Please note that the My Documents directory may contain sub-directories such as My Pictures, My Music and My Downloads that you may not wish to backup. You can deselect these folders or other files by right clicking on them and selecting Remove from Daily Backup.

Desktop

You may have placed some or all of your important file on your Windows Desktop. You can either select files directly from your desktop, or select the files by going to the correct location in Windows Explorer or My Computer.

  • Windows 95/98/98SE: C:\Desktop
  • Windows ME: C:\Desktop or C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Desktop
  • Windows 2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Desktop

Once you located the Desktop folder, right click and select Add to Daily Backup.

Favorites/Bookmarks

The URLs you save as Favorites in Internet Explorer are stored in a folder called Favorites. An easy way to locate the Favorites folder is using the Search or Find feature in Windows and then the backup.com right-click option.

  1. Click "Start" on the task bar and select the Find or Search option.
  2. Select the "Files and Folders" option.
  3. Enter favorites in the search field
  4. Select "Local Disk" or C:\ in the Look in field
  5. Click Find or Search

The search results will display all the Favorites folders on your computer. Right-click on the folders you want to backup and select "Add to Daily Backup".

Microsoft Outlook

Your Outlook email, calendar, and contact information are stored by default in a single file called "outlook.pst".

The easiest way to select this file is using the Search or Find feature in Windows and the backup right click option.

  1. Click "Start" on the task bar and select the Find or Search option.
  2. Select the "Files and Folders" option.
  3. Enter *.pst in the search field
  4. Select "Local Disk" or C:\ in the Look in field
  5. Click Find or Search

The search results will display all the .pst files on your computer. Locate the .pst file with a modified date matching the last time you opened Outlook. Right-click on the filename and select Add to Daily Backup.

You may want to back additional .pst file if they have important data. If you use the auto archive feature in Outlook, you may have files named archive.pst that contain old emails.

Outlook Express

Your Outlooks Express email and address book information is stored in two different file types.

Email is stored in files with .dbx extensions. You will have a .dbx file for each mail folder. For example "inbox.dbx" or "sent.dbx"

Address book entries are stored in files with .wab extensions. For example owner.wab

The easiest way to select this file is using the Search or Find feature in Windows and the backup.com right-click option.

  1. Click "Start" on the task bar and select the Find or Search option.
  2. Select the "Files and Folders" option.
  3. Enter *.dbx or *.wab in the search field
  4. Select "Local Disk" or C:\ in the Look in field
  5. Click Find or Search

The search results will display all the .dbx or .wab files on your computer. Right-click on the filename and select Add to Daily Backup.

ACT!

Your ACT! data files are stored by default in the "Database" folder unless you have chosen to store them elsewhere. The "Database" folder is located:

  • C:\Act\Database for ACT! 3.0
  • C:\Program Files\Symantec\Act\Database for ACT! 4.0
  • C:\My Documents\Act\Database for ACT! 2000

Each ACT! database is made up of 12 to 22 files depending on the features you use within ACT!. You should select all files in the Database that use the filename you assigned.

Quicken

Your Quicken data files are stored by default in the "QUICKENW" folder unless you have chosen to store them elsewhere. The "QUICKENW" folder is located:

  • C:\QuickenW for Quicken 2001
  • C:\Program Files\QuickenW or C:\Program Files\Intuit\Quicken for Quicken 2002 and above.

You should select the following files for backup. The file name may be different if you chose a different name for your quicken file. Quicken's default name is "QDATA" or "QDATA1"

  • QDATA.QDF
  • QDATA.QSD
  • QDATA.QEL

Depending on the features you use in Quicken you may also want to select files with the following extensions for backup.

.NPC, .ADB, .EML, .HCX, .QPH, .QTX, .QMD, .QDT, .QIF, and .QDB.

Microsoft Money

Microsoft Money saves your money file to the My Documents folder. A easy way to locate the money file is using the Search or Find feature in Windows and the backup right click option.

  1. Click "Start" on the task bar and select the Find or Search option.
  2. Select the "Files and Folders" option.
  3. Enter *.mny in the search field
  4. Select "Local Disk" or C:\ in the Look in field
  5. Click Find or Search

The search results will display all the .mny files on your computer. Locate the .mny file with a modified date matching the last time you used Money. Right-click on the filename and select Add to Daily Backup.

You may see additional *.mny files in the search window. These are backup files Money automatically creates. You do not need to backup these files.

QuickBooks

Your QuickBooks data files are stored by default in the "QuickBooks" folder unless you have chosen to store them elsewhere. The "QuickBooks" folder is located:

  • C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks for all versions

You should select the following files for backup. The file name will match the company name you assigned when originally creating the Quickbooks data file. We have used "MyCompany" as an example.

  • MyCompany.QBW

Depending on what features you use in QuickBooks, you may also want to select:

  • MyCompany.QBA
  • MyCompany.TDB

Microsoft Office

The My Documents folder most likely contains many of your important files. Programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access save data in My Documents.

The location of My Documents will vary depending on what version of Windows you're using.

  • Windows 95/98/98SE: C:\My Documents
  • Windows ME: C:\My Documents or C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents
  • Windows 2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\My Documents

Once you locate the My Documents folder, right click and select Add to Daily Backup.

Please note that the My Documents directory may contain sub directories such as My Pictures, My Music and My Downloads that you may not wish to backup. You can deselect these folders or other files by right clicking on them and selecting Remove from Daily Backup.