Repair PST File With Ease – True Magic of scanpst.exe

How long have you been using Microsoft Outlook client? How many times you’ve faced corruption in your Outlook mailbox? Do you know what the main behind PST corruption is? We’ll discuss it later in this post. Whenever corruption takes place in Outlook mailbox, you must repair PST file using scanpst.exe, the Inbox Repair tool provided by Microsoft.

Microsoft Outlook Client 

Microsoft Outlook is not just an email client, it’s more than that. It not only provides you mailing service but also other features which include calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal and web browsing. Outlook clients stores all the email messages and other mailbox content into an Outlook data file. It’s known as PST aka personal storage table. Outlook saves the PST files on local system. Everything is fine, but the real problem occurs when a PST file becomes oversized. Being an Outlook user, you must be aware of this fact that PST file has a definite size limit. Make sure a PST file never crosses its size limit. Unfortunately if it does, it becomes prone to corruption.

Outlook PST File Size Limit

Outlook saves PST file in two different formats: ANSI and Unicode. If you’re using any older version of Outlook client, i.e. Outlook 2002 or earlier, you’ll see your Outlook data file is saved in ANSI format. But if you’re using Outlook 2003 or later version including the latest 2016, the PST file is saved in Unicode format. The major difference between ANSI and Unicode is their size limitation. ANSI can only store up to 2 GB of mailbox data, whereas Unicode provides you more space than ANSI. In Unicode PST file, the maximum size limitation is 20 GB to 50 GB.

Generally, corruption occurs in ANSI PST file as it provides you very low storage space, i.e. 2 GB. But sometimes a Unicode PST file may become corrupt due to various other reasons. The most common reasons are virus attacks, sudden power failure, abruptly cancellation of Outlook client, software malfunction, hard disk failure or crash, and sometimes human errors or mistakes. Whatever the reason is, it always results in corruption. You can’t access or open a corrupt PST file until you repair it or restore its mailbox data into a new fresh PST file.

How to repair PST file? 

There are two solutions you can try to repair PST file. First is scanpst.exe, the Inbox Repair tool provided by Microsoft. It’s a built-in repair utility available in Microsoft Outlook client. Another solution is professional PST Recovery software that can recover mailbox data from corrupt PST files without causing any changes or alteration in just no time. But first, you must try scanpst.exe before purchasing any such paid software. If it fails or doesn’t work for you, then only you should consider using professional solution.

Repair PST file using scanpst.exe. 

It’s very easy to use scanpst.exe, the Inbox Repair tool, to repair PST file. First you need to locate the executable file (.exe) on your system.

On Outlook 97/98 

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Windows Messaging\scanpst.exe

On Outlook 2000 

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\<locale ID>\NT\scanpst.exe

On Outlook 2002/XP 

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\<locale ID>\scanpst.exe

On Outlook 2003

For 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\<locale ID>

For 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\<locale ID>

On Outlook 2007 

For 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12

For 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12

On Outlook 2010

For 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

For 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14

If you’re using Outlook 64-bit, the location is

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

On Outlook 2013 

For 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15

For 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15

If you’re using Outlook 64-bit, the location is

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15

Click-to-Run: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15

Once you locate the exe on your system, double-click it and follow the steps shown below:

Step 1: You can see Microsoft Inbox Repair Tool window on your screen.

Click Browse and select the PST file you want to repair with scanpst.exe.

Step 2: The selected PST file is listed in the edit box.

Click Start to start scanning the PST file.

Step 3: The scanning process is being conducted on your system.

Don’t cancel the process until it gets successfully completed.

Step 4: It’ll take a few minutes to complete the scanning the process.

Now you can check all the errors and corruption issues, but only if found.

Note: There’s an option by using which you can take backup of PST file before repairing it.

Step 5: Finally click Repair to repair PST file. This will take few minutes to complete the process.

Once the process gets completed, you will receive Repair complete message. Click OK.

The above steps will help you repair PST file using scanpst.exe. Sometimes scanpst.exe fails or doesn’t work if corruption is severe. In such situation, you must consider using professional recovery solution. There are many software companies in the market which provide you smart PST repair or recovery tools. You can try few of them. Such 3rd party tools are available with demo or trial version for free evaluation. SysInfoTools Software is one of such companies in the market which provide Windows system utilities for a variety of purposes.

PST Repair from SysInfoTools Software 

SysInfoTools Software provides smart PST Repair tool for Outlook users using any Outlook version, including the latest 2016. It can repair PST file which is corrupt due to various reasons without taking much time unlike scanpst.exe. Through this amazing recovery solution, you can recover almost each and every single mailbox content which include email messages, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, journals, attachments, etc. It supports both ANSI and Unicode PST files created by any Outlook version. Before you can purchase the software, you must download its free demo version. By using demo version, you can check the preview of your recovered mailbox data before saving them.