Outlook PST file is a local copy of the Outlook mailbox data. It stores all the information be it your inbox messages or other Outlook items. At times, these PST files may get corrupt under several circumstances. Of these, some are when you save your PST files on a network drive it gets corrupt either due to abrupt closure of Outlook, overgrown file size, etc. Moreover, resolving common Outlook errors or repairing.pst file with scanpst.exe may turn out extremely time consuming. Therefore, whenever a PST file gets corrupt, the default or first action that you must take is to recover the Outlook mailbox data through its backup. If in case, you do not have the PST backup, admin can repair the .PST file and extract its data by using the scanpst.exe (Inbox Repair Tool). In some instances, the Inbox Repair Utility (scanpst.exe) may fail to repair a corrupt Outlook PST file due to unknown reasons. This blog guides you with few other troubleshooting methods that make repairing .pst file easy without the Scan PST tool.
Effective Solutions to Repair Corrupt PST File in Outlook
Below we have mentioned some of the effective troubleshooting solutions implementing which you will be able to repair PST file in Outlook:
Solution 1: Make a new PST and copy contents from old PST
Before you begin to implement this troubleshooting method, make sure to keep note of the following factors:
A. Always take backup of the corrupted PST.
b. This method will work only when the old PST opens via Outlook.
Following the below listed steps, you will be able to create a new PST and copy the contents of old one:
- Firstly, you have to link the old PST-file to Outlook by following this order:
A. Go to the File menu, from there click on Open followed by Outlook Data File option.
- Whenever it opens, create a new PST-file following these steps:
i. For Outlook 2007 and previous: File-> New-> Outlook Data File
ii. For Outlook 2010: Home tab-> New Items-> More Items-> Outlook Data File
- Then, copy the corrupt PST-file content from the newly created one.
- Using the Navigation strip at the left bottom of Outlook switch to the Folder List Navigation. Alternatively, you can simultaneously press CTRL+6 keys.
- Once you successfully copy the required content, set the newly created PST-file as the default:
i. For Outlook 2003
Tools-> Email Account-> Next-> use the dropdown list below “Deliver new e-mail to the following location:” to select your newly created PST-file-> button “Finish”-> Restart Outlook
ii. For Outlook 2007
File-> Data File Management…-> select new PST-file-> button “Set as Default”-> button “Close”-> Restart Outlook
iii. For Outlook 2010
File-> section Info-> button Account Settings-> Account Setting -> tab Data Files-> select new pst-file-> button “Set as Default”-> button “Close”-> Restart Outlook
- At last, you have to restart Outlook and disconnect the old pst-file from Outlook. For doing this, right-click its root folder and choose the Close folder name option.
Solution 2: Try torestore & import the PST file into Outlook.
You will not be able to repair the Quarantined PST files by ScanPST.exe. For repairing such .pst files, you must proceed with the below-given steps:
Step 1: Repair the PST file
- Open security services, and then mark the antivirus checkbox followed by Quarantine for Outlook PST.
- Then, click on Restore.
- It will display a message on your screen stating that the file cannot be disinfected and will prompt if you want to abort the restoration process.
- Click No and wait till the time the restoration process completes. The restoration time will vary depending on the size of the PST file.
- Click once again to go back to the Homepage of the Antivirus program.
- When done, disable the Enable Real-Time protection.
Step 2: Import the repaired PST file into Outlook
- At first, you have to open Outlook email client and from there, select the file and click on Import and Export.
- After that, click Import from another program or file followed by Next.
- Further, scroll down and select the PST file.
- Then, select the required location.
- Click Browse, select the Outlook.pst file, and click Next.
- Finally, click on Import and the restored PST will be imported into a Outlook profile.
Step 3: Try to search the infected email
- To begin, you need to first open the Outlook application.
- Since the file was quarantined recently, it clearly signifies that the PST was infected recently.
- Further, you have to scan each mail and delete the recent emails with attachments. Alternatively, you can save the attachments on a separate hard disk to scan them individually.
- Make sure to check all folders including junk, deleted, and sent folders. Also, empty the deleted folder.
- Moving ahead, close the Outlook application and unmark the Enable real-time virus protection checkbox. This step keeps you assure if your PST file is still infected or not.
- If in case, your PST file is fond infected, the antivirus will quarantine it once again. And then, you have repeat the above steps once again.
- If in case, the file is not quarantined, the infected mail item is found and deleted.
Note: You need to make sure to scan and delete the infected attachments on the hard drive.
There might be instances when you will not be able to keep track of the infected or corrupted attachments even after following the above mentioned steps. In that case, you must look for an advanced and reliable Inbox repair solution.
Solution 3: Repair the corrupted mail items by using the PST Repair Utility
With Outlook PST file repair utility, you can repair the.pst file and then, save the PST data into new PST. Alternatively, you can also append the data into existing PST or import directly into Outlook profile.
Follow the below-given steps to repair the corrupted PST file:
• At first, you need to download, install and launch the Stellar Repair for Outlook software from the official Stellar website.
• Further, select the corrupt PST file and click on Repair to initiate the PST repair process.
• The software will scan and repair corrupt elements of the PST data. Along with that, it also provides a preview of the entire data.
• After that, you need to verify the file components.
• From the tree like structure, that appears your screen, search for any email, calendar entry, or any contact for data verification.
Note: Here, your folders will appear in the left pane. While the middle and the right pane will have all the items of the selected folder and details of selected folder item respectively.
• Once you have verified, click on save to save the repaired Outlook data as new PST to eliminate any chance of PST file corruption.
• You will find multiple options for saving the repaired file. You can mark the checkbox of the preferred option.
• Further, make sure to specify the location for saved file and click OK.
• Moving ahead, you need to save the repaired PST as a new PST or append the data to an existing PST file.
• By following three simple steps, i.e., Select-Scan-Save, you can repair the PST file without putting in enough time and effort in accomplishing the best results.
Note: When compared to Scan PST, which only eliminates the corrupt elements, the PST repair utility repairs the corrupted elements of the .PST file.
Summing It Up
If you talk about one of the common reasons behind why Scan PST fails to repair the corrupt PST files is that, it firstly deletes the corrupt elements of the PST file and then, creates an empty ‘Lost and Found’ folder containing the folders and items, which can’t be placed in their original structure. In such a situation, you need to look for a reliable tool that can help you repair PST file in Outlook without much hassle. One such tool is the Stellar Repair for Outlook. It comes with no limitation and makes repairing.pst file effortless for the users.
