How Do I Repair Damaged Outlook PST Files?

Outlook stores data like emails, contacts, calendars, or attachments on physical files for offline access whether you are using Outlook 2019, 2016 or more prior versions.

OST file store typical mailbox information only if you use IMAP or POP protocols. If you don’t use these configuration protocols then PST file comes into play. Normally, both of these files are very reliable but sometimes they stop working for unknown reasons. Outlook comes with a repair tool to fix or repair the Outlook data files. We need to look for PST repair tool (SCANPST.EXE) to repair PST file.

In this article, we are going to look at how we can repair the PST files. 

Repair PST file with Inbox Repair Tool
First, locate the PST file on your computer before repairing it. And follow these steps to repair the file:

• Open ‘Run’ by pressing the Windows + R key or by typing ‘Run’ on the Windows Start Menu.
• Then you need to paste the following Path in the Run window.
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
• This path is for the Outlook 2016, you will need to change the last folder for a different version.
• You’ll find the SCANPST.EXE in that folder, double click on that file to open the inbox repair tool for PST file.
• Then you’ll be asked to browse the location of the PST file.
• Locate the file for your mailbox which you want to repair.
• Then click on the ‘Open’ button and then click on the ‘Start’ button to start the process.
• But you need to make sure that you have taken a backup of the PST file before beginning the repair process.
• Now, you need to click on the ‘Repair’ button to start the process.

Inbox Repair Tool will scan the PST file for errors. Once the scanning process is done, the repair tool will try and repair the found errors. Now, you can open the Outlook to check if the errors are gone or not. Most likely your errors are resolved with this repair process. But you need to remember that the inbox repair tool can only scan files up to 2GB. 


Recover With PST Repair Tool
If you want to repair files more than the 2GB size then you have to consider using Outlook PST recovery tool. Many established companies adequately provide the recovery tool to their key customers. You can discover one of those tools by searching online for it. You can compare the tools for the features and then select the one which looks best to you. These tools will let you scan files of unlimited size and unlimited times. These essential tools are extremely at ease with to utilize efficiently and typically offers an interactive interface. You will get more unique features in these tools than just to repair the PST file.

Complete Way to Repair A Corrupted/Damaged PST File | DataRecovo

If you are using MS Outlook email client for such a long time then you’ve probably known about some error messages and corruptions issues while accessing Outlook data file.

Sometimes you got the error message “The Outlook data file didn’t close properly” after this message you have to wait for a few moments as this error message is a minor issue so that you can get the preview of your emails by just restating the Outlook application.

But the luck is not that good every time as sometimes PST file got severely damaged or corrupt that Outlook refuses to open the PST file, every time you have tried to access it. At such situation, you can try to fix the damaged file with some free or third-party tools. Considering data corruption in MS Outlook can be done by various multiple reasons, you may need to try a couple of different methods in order to fix the corrupted file.

Method 1: Inbox Repair Tool

It is a simple, great and free tool to repair the Outlook data file. It is an inbuilt utility which comes with Outlook installation. This tool basically tries to repair the PST file and delete anything from the file that this tool can’t able to recognize.

Location of this tool: C:\Program Files (x86) \Microsoft Office\root\Office(version)

You can also go to the file location of Outlook application by simply performing a normal windows search. 

• After getting the location of the tool simply run the tool.
• Now click on browse and choose the corrupted PST File.
• After selecting the file, click on start to start the process.
• When the process is done, it will show you the errors that is found by this tool.
• Now choose your backup location and click on repair to repair the file.
• After the repairing process, Open Outlook and check if your inbox back to normal or not. If not then repeat the process again. Sometimes you need to run scanpst.exe multiple times in order to fix all errors in PST file to go away.
   
• Apart from PST file, this tool also works in OST file which is an Offline exchange server folder that helps Outlook users to work offline.

Method 2: Truncate Oversize PST File

Another reason why the PST file becomes corrupted is due to the file size limit for Outlook. File size for Outlook data files is 2 Gb and when the user goes over this limit, Outlook starts working abnormally and the entire file becomes corrupt. This type of error happens only to the older version of MS Outlook. The new version of MS Outlook comes with 20-50 Gb of file size limit.

For the purpose to fix the issue, you have to truncate or trim the PST file in order to decrease the file size below 2 GB. Sadly, you need to download and use a tool from Microsoft which is “Oversized PST and OST crop tool” This tool will delete 25-50 MB of your data which can be important. So, use this tool considering as last option.

In order to get this tool, you need to call Microsoft helpline

Method 3: Use Third-Party PST Repair Tool

If the above methods don’t work or respond to corruption, you can try a third-party application called PST Recovery Software that is powerful enough to save every bit of file and recover all of your emails seamlessly without any hassle.

This software comes with paid as well as the free version. With the help of paid licensed version there is no limitation to recover as you can recover multiple folders at the same time and also you can save data from password protected files also and can able to repair oversized PST file also.

With the free version, you can only save up to 25 emails per folder at the same.