Of all the great features Outlook provides, moving emails to an offline folder has to be one of the most useful. It lets you open emails even when you are not connected to the internet, and you can keep a backup of all your emails on your device.
Not just that, you can also make rules in Outlook that will instantly save the emails you send and receive into an offline folder with a .pst (Personal Storage Table) extension.
This article explains how to move each email to separate offline folders and all emails to a local folder.
I’ve also provided the step-by-step process of creating a rule to save a copy of your sent and received messages in an offline folder spontaneously.
Let’s begin!
How to Move Emails to an Offline Folder in Outlook
To move emails to an offline folder, you have to first create the folder, and you can create additional subfolders to keep your emails more organized. And just select your emails and transfer them to your desired folders.
Let’s perform these tasks one by one.
Here’s the process of moving your emails to offline folders Using Outlook:
1. Create the Offline folder
The folder you construct will be on your device and store your emails. You can open this folder using Outlook and read the emails.
Here are the steps to create Outlook data files:
- Launch Outlook.
- Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
- Move to the Data Files tab and select Add.
- Select the location and the name of the offline folder and click OK. You’ll see the newly created .pst file in the Data Files list.
- Choose the .pst file and click Settings. You can change the file name and password to open it from there.
- Click Apply and OK when you are done customizing the data file.
After these steps, you’ll see the data file with two subfolders: Deleted Items and Search Folders, already in it on the left side pane on your Outlook Home page. 
Check out the easiest way to why Outlook not Marking Emails as Replied.
2. Create Subfolders in Your Offline Folder
Creating subfolders in your .pst folder will help to keep your emails nice and organized. You can sort your emails by moving different emails to different subfolders.
Here are the steps to construct subfolders in your offline folder:
- Open Outlook.
- Right-click on the .pst folder you’ve created and select New Folder.
- Give the new folder a name, and you are done making a subfolder.
In this way, you can create subfolders inside a subfolder and go as deep as you want, making a Folderception. 
Here’s a complete guide on how to Automatically Forward Emails in Outlook.
3. Move Emails to Your Offline Folder
Finally, you can start moving your emails to your desired folders. You can choose which emails to move as well as the folder or subfolder to transfer the emails.
Here’s how to transfer emails in the device’s local folders using Outlook:
- Open Outlook and go to Home.
- Right-click on the email you want to move to the .pst folder.
- Select Move and choose the folder or subfolder in the .pst data file.
In this process, you have to move emails one by one. You can press and hold the Ctrl key and choose multiple emails to shift to an offline folder at once.
But if you want to move all the emails in your inbox to an offline local folder, I’ve explained the process in the next section.
Also related to this guide is how to Enable or Disable Autosave Emails in Outlook.
How to Move the Inbox Folder to an Offline Folder in Outlook
Assuming that you want to move all your emails to a single offline folder, there’s no need to create any additional folders or subfolders; just make your .pst data file and select the Outlook folder you want to move; in this case, the Inbox.
Here’s the procedure to move your Outlook Inbox to an offline folder:
- Launch Outlook and select File.
- Choose Open & Export from the left sidebar.
- Select Import/Export.
- Choose Export to a file and click Next.
- Select Outlook Data File (.pst), and click Next.
- Pick Inbox and click Next You can also expand the Inbox folder and select any subfolder of Inbox to back it up.
- Click the Browse button, choose the location of the offline folder, and select OK.
- Click Finish when you are done.
After these steps, a .pst data file will be created containing your inbox in the specified location.
Also, check out our separate post on Delete Emails in Microsoft Outlook.
How to Move Sent Messages Directly to an Offline Folder
Using Outlook, you can also save emails as you send them to an offline folder automatically. You can make a new rule to move your sent emails to your .pst data file folder. Setting this rule will instantly shift your sent emails in the data file.
Here are the steps to move sent messages instantly to a .pst data folder:
- Open Outlook and go to File.
- Select Manage Rules & Alerts.
- Click New Rule.
- Choose Apply rule on messages I send under Start from a blank rule and click Next.
- Check through the specified account.
- Click specified, pick the account to which you want to apply this rule, and click Next.
- Check move it to the specified folder.
- Click specified, choose the folder in the .pst data file to copy the sent emails, and click OK.
- Click on the Finish button.
Check out the easiest way to Fix Outlook Crashes at Startup.
How to Move Received Messages Directly to an Offline Folder
Outlook also lets you create rules to automatically save a copy of the emails you receive in an offline folder. You just make a rule to directly move your received emails to a .pst data folder, and the rule takes care of the rest.
Here’s how to move sent messages instantly to a local offline folder:
- Launch Outlook and go to File.
- Choose Manage Rules & Alerts.
- Select New Rule.
- Pick Apply rule on messages I receive under Start from a blank rule and click Next.
- Tick through the specified account checkbox.
- Click specified, select the account to which you want to apply this rule, and click Next.
- Put a checkmark on move it to the specified folder.
- Click specified, choose the folder in the .pst data file to copy the sent emails, and click OK.
- Click Finish.
From now on, the emails you receive will go into the .pst folder you’ve specified as well as in the inbox.
FAQs
What is an offline folder in Outlook?
The offline folder is an Outlook feature that lets users move the contents from Outlook to their hard disks. These folders have particular formatting, the .pst format and only Outlook can open them.
How do I change my email to stay offline?
To change your email to stay offline, open Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, select your account and click Change. Move the Mail to keep offline slider to choose the number of months or choose All to change the emails to offline.
How do I create an offline folder in Outlook 365?
To create an offline folder in Outlook 365, launch Outlook, go to Home, select New Items > More Items > Outlook Data File, choose the file name and location, then select OK.
Final Thoughts
You have the ability to work offline in Outlook, but to do that, you need to move your emails to offline folders. These folders also work as backups for your emails.
And here, I’ve described how you can create offline folders and move your emails into those folders using Outlook. I’ve also explained how you can set rules that automatically save the emails you receive and send out in the offline folders you specified.
Let me know if you have further questions regarding Outlook or other apps. See you in the comment section.
