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.
]]>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.
]]>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:
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.
]]>Depending on who you ask, PST stands for "Personal Storage Table" or "Personal Folders File". Microsoft Outlook stores its .pst file on your local hard drive. When Outlook retrieves an email message it removes it from the email server and stores it in its PST file. The more email you receive, the bigger your PST file gets. Many versions of Outlook (Outlook 97, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002) can't handle a PST file that gets bigger than 2GB in size. Once your .pst file gets that large you're in trouble as Outlook can no longer open the file and will act as if it is corrupted. (If you run into that situation, Stellar Outlook PST Repair can split pst files that are too big, solving the Starting with Outlook 2003, PST files have a maximum size determined by the user, with a recommended upper limit of 20GB. Which is a good thing as the amount of email users receive and retain continues to go up. Unfortunately, file size limits are only one of the problems effecting the Personal Storage Table file used by Outlook. Because the PST file gets used quite heavily, it is vulnerable to corruption if anything gets written to it incorrectly or incompletely. So if Outlook crashes or shuts down incompletely or gets interrupted, or if your power fails or computer gets shut down improperly, or if another application is buggy or crashes, your Outlook PST file might get left in an improper, or corrupted, state. Outlook will report some error and will refuse to open the corrupt .pst file. Just because Outlook cannot handle a corrupted .pst file doesn't mean all is lost. That's where a repair tool like Stellar Outlook PST Repair comes in handy. Stellar Outlook PST Repair was developed by Stellar Phoenix and is sold by Avanquest Software via the SafeCart shopping system. Stellar Phoenix is an award-winning company that specializes in data recovery software and services. They've been in business since 1993, so they have years of experience recovering data from all sorts of Microsoft applications. In fact, Microsoft doesn't have any comparable tool to repair PST files and would rather let others within the market provide these specialty tools. You can learn more about PST files from the Wikipedia .pst entry and this Microsoft article about Outlook data files.
So whenever you run into strange errors or unusual behavior from Outlook, be sure to stop here for helpful information. And be sure to give Stellar Outlook PST Repair 3.0 a try. We think Stellar Outlook PST Repair is the fastest, easiest way to get Outlook back up and running. Why not try it for yourself?
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