Search Folders are virtual folders that contain views of e-mail items that satisfy specific search criteria.

There may be times when you want to create one of your Search Folders again on another computer or share it with another person who is using Outlook. Because Search Folders are virtual folders and don't really contain items, just views of items that match defined criteria, you can save only the search criteria. You will not have to create your Search Folder criteria all over again on each computer.

Note  To create a backup file, you must first create the Search Folder by using the Advanced Find feature. If you create a Search Folder without using Advanced Find, you cannot use the following steps.

Creating a Search Folder and an Office Saved Searches (.oss) file

1. On the Tools menu, point to Find, and then click Advanced Find.
2. In the Look for box, select Messages.
3. If the folder you want to search does not appear in the In box or you want to search more than one folder, click Browse to select from a list.
4. Select the remaining search options you want, and then click Find Now.
5. When the search is complete, in the Advanced Find dialog box, on the File menu, click Save Search as Search Folder.

   Your new Search Folder is created.

6. In the Advanced Find dialog box, on the File menu, click Save Search.
7. In the File name box, type the name for the file. This is the backup file, or Microsoft Office Saved Searches (.oss) file.

   The default location for the Microsoft Office Saved Searches file is your My Documents folder. You can change this to any location you want.

Creating a Search Folder from an Office Saved Searches (.oss) file

If you need to recreate a Search Folder by using the same search criteria, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Find, and then click Advanced Find.
2. In the Advanced Find dialog box, on the File menu, click Open Search.
3. Go to where your backup (.oss) file is located, click the file, and then click OK.
4. In the Advanced Find dialog box, on the File menu, click Save Search as Search Folder.

   Your new Search Folder is created.