Manual Backups in Microsoft Money - How to Back Up Microsoft Money Data

Microsoft Money 2005 and Earlier

If you use Microsoft Money 2006 or later, read about backing up Microsoft Money 2006 and later instead of this tutorial.

Before doing a manual backup in Microsoft Money, you need to identify the drive letter which represents your CD, floppy or DVD drive. If you're not sure, open My Computer and look for the CD-RW (or other media) drive and determine whether it is set up as drive D: or E: or something else. A floppy drive is usually assigned to drive A:.

To manually backup data in Microsoft Money:

1. Place media (CD, etc.) in the appropriate drive and open Microsoft Money.

2. Click on File, then click Back Up.

3. Whether or not you use a floppy disk, click Back up to floppy. This opens a dialogue box allowing you to select the appropriate drive letter whether you use a floppy, CD or DVD drive.

4. Select the drive letter for your media, click OK.

5. Click Back Up Now.

6. Check the media drive using My Computer to verify that Microsoft Money wrote the backup to the media. Microsoft Money changes the file extension to .mbf to indicate that it is a compressed backup file.

7. Store the backup media away from your computer so you have your data file in the event of a disaster.

To understand more about why Microsoft recommends backing up your Microsoft Money file to removable media, such as a CD or DVD See Backup Options for Microsoft Money.