Prior to reformatting your hard drive, you can use this checklist to back up Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and Internet Explorer
The following is a list of files to back up only Microsoft Office core programsÆ data and settings files. Other programs are not included. FrontPage and PhotoDraw files are not included, though these programs may be included with your Microsoft Office installation. The instructions do NOT tell you where to place them when your PC has been restored; this is up to you to determine.
If you are comfortable, you may want to sort through the templates to ensure that you only get those templates that you created and not the templates that come with the program. Of course, the easiest way to sort them would be by the modified date.
Word files: Documents: *.doc Templates: *.dot (particularly normal.dot, which stores certain settings) Excel files: Workbooks: *.xls Templates: *.xlt Toolbar: *.xlb PowerPoint files: Presentations: *.ppt Shows: *.pps Templates: *.pot Access: Databases: *.mdb Other files: *.mde, *.mda Miscellaneous: AutoCorrect entries: *.acl Dictionaries: *.dic DonÆt forget files that may be linked to any of the above files that you have created, such as clipart, movies, sound files Outlook Personal folders: *.pst Internet account files: *.iaf Outlook Bar Shortcuts: *.fav Internet Explorer Favorites: Copy the C:\windows\favorites folder