Use Scheduled Tasks to close an application?

Question

I use Scheduled Tasks in Windows to run SyncToy once a day to back up my data. However, if Outlook is open it cannot back up my .pst files as they are locked by the application.
Is there a way to run Scheduled Tasks to CLOSE an already open application. I could then use this to close Outlook before the backup starts.
Or another way to back up the .pst files while outlook is open?

Answer 1

A program called synch back can close open programs for you. You will find this at http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html

If you really want to do this from the command line, try this

Make sure you can see file extensions in windows (from My Computer click Tools => Folder Options => View => untick "hide extensions for known file types")

Open Notepad
Type the following lines:

@echo off
taskkill /f /im outlook.exe /im winword.exe
cls
exit

You have to close word as well because it is the default editor for emails in outlook and runs as a process whenever outlook is open. Save this file in the root of C: Drive as say "shutol.cmd"

Now from scheduled tasks setup C:\shutol.cmd whenever you want it to run. For more information about taskkill, click Start => Run and type cmd. From there type taskkill /? to see more options.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I dont think task scheduler can do this, but im sure a batch file would. Batch files are ace for backing stuff up once you get the hang of them.