Stellar Outlook PST Repair 3.0

Few things are more troubling than to start your day by loading up Microsoft Outlook, only to have it complain that "outlook.pst is not a personal folders file".  You're sitting there with your first cup of coffee wondering: what the heck does that mean?  If outlook.pst is not a personal folders file, then what is it?  And what should it be?

The short answer is that outlook.pst is the file that Outlook normally uses to store all of your data, such as email messages, contact records, calendar events, notes, etc.  Anything that you save in Outlook ends up getting stored in a single pst file, also known as a personal folders file.  And typically that works fine.  But if the file ever gets corrupted or damaged in any way, then Outlook may no longer recognize it as a valid file and you'll see the error message that began this article.  So this error is simply a cryptic way that Microsoft is telling you that there is a problem with the file and Outlook will no longer be able to use it unless it gets fixed.

Outlook files can get corrupted for any number of reasons.  Your computer may have lost power or not been shut down properly.  An upgrade of Outlook may not have completed 100% correctly.  Another application might have a bug or memory issue that damaged the pst file.  Or you may have been moving files from one machine to another, or from one medium to another (such as to backup disks or CDs).  No matter the reason, Outlook is rather particular about this file and will not operate if it detects a problem.

Fortunately data corruption isn't that common of an occurrence, so most people will never see this error message.  But if you are one of the unlucky ones, you'll be wondering what to do about it.  The first step is to see if you have a recent backup of the file that isn't corrupt.  If you don't, the next step is to try running Scanpst.exe, a free repair utility provided by Microsoft.  And if that fails, or is unable to open the file, you should try a free download of our Stellar Outlook PST Repair, to see if it can restore the file and recover all your data.

Okay, we admit the title of this post is a bit over the top.  However, based on searchers who are arriving here from Google and other search engines, and what they are looking for, it's clear that there is some confusion about scanpst.exe and where to find it.  We intend to set the record straight in this post.

First of all, scanpst.exe (the Outlook Inbox Repair Tool) is already provided free from Microsoft and should already be installed on your computer.  The confusion comes from the fact that Microsoft installs it as a hidden file, meaning that it won't show up in File Explorer (unless you've got it configured to show hidden files) and it won't show up in a file search unless you check the option to search for hidden or system files.

Secondly, you probably shouldn't be downloading scanpst.exe from a site on the Internet, because there is a chance that the version you download is not the version that you need to match your version of Outlook.  Your best bet is to search your own hard drive first, then look on your installation disk, and only if you cannot find it on either of those two places should you look online.  Just make sure you get the one for your Outlook version.

Click the link to this article for more details about how to find and run Scanpst.exe.

We recently created a video commercial for our .pst repair software and posted it on YouTube. It's pretty simple and is just meant to convey some of the main features and benefits of our product. Once people have come to this website we hope that the blog posts and articles answer any questions they have about how to deal with corrupt Outlook .pst files and how to recover their data. Without further ado, here is the video:

While it isn't very powerful, Microsoft does provide a free pst repair program called the Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (also known as Scanpst). For most situations in which Outlook is not functioning properly, and the problem appears to be the .pst file, the first step is to run scanpst.exe to see if it can fix things. If scanpst fails, then you can move up to better, more powerful pst repair software, such as Stellar Outlook PST Repair 3.0.

Now, you might think that since Microsoft created Outlook and is fully aware of how susceptible it is to corruption, that they would be in the best position to fix the problem. However, if you search the Internet for discussions about corrupt pst files you will find that quite often Scanpst (the Inbox Repair Tool) simply doesn't succeed in repairing damaged .pst files. And it cannot recover lost or forgotten passwords. So use it as first step in getting Outlook back up and running, but don't be surprised if it comes up short.

The basic process for using the Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) appears below. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't make it easy to find this program, and its location varies across operating systems (XP vs. Vista, for example) and across versions of Outlook (Outlook 2000 vs. Outlook 2007, for example). So be sure you know how to search for files on your computer or get the help of someone who does. Once you know how to find the necessary files, follow these steps:

1. Exit Outlook and stay out of it until all steps are completed.
2. Locate all .pst files on your computer (search for *.pst).
3. Make backup copies of all .pst files.
4. Locate scanpst.exe on your computer and run it.
5. Scanpst will ask for the location of your .pst file(s).
6. Click the "Start" button to scan the file.
7. Scanpst will then report the results of its scan.
8. Select the option to make a backup of the scanned file before repairing.
9. Click the "Repair" button to attempt a repair.

If the Inbox Repair Tool was able to scan and repair your Outlook.pst file then you are one of the lucky ones. Quite often this utility will fail to correct the problem. If you search the Internet you will find lots of users complaining that scanpst did not work, and wondering what else they can do. Because scanpst is the only tool Microsoft provides, if it can't fix your corrupt .pst files then you'll have to look elsewhere, such as our pst repair software, Stellar Outlook PST Repair 3.0.

Also note that the Inbox Repair Tool does not solve the problem of a .pst file being corrupt because it has exceeded the file size limits for PST files. For example, versions of Outlook prior to Outlook 2003 cannot open a .pst file that has grown bigger that 2 gigabytes (GB) in size. If you have a 2GB pst problem, Microsoft recommends its PST Crop Tool. However, this tool simply chops off part of your file and places a new header on it. So you will end up losing data and you'll have no easy way to tell what you've lost until it is too late. Because of that, we do not recommend the Microsoft crop tool. Instead, our Stellar Outlook PST Repair 3.0 software will allow you to intelligently split an oversized .pst file into two or more smaller files so that you won't lose any valuable data.