If you’re facing corruption in your Outlook Mailbox, you must know the main reason behind PST corruption. Whenever corruption takes place in the Outlook mailbox, you must repair PST file using scanpst.exe, the Inbox Repair tool provided by Microsoft. This article will discuss the different methods to recover PST files. You have to read the article carefully and follow the instructions one by one.
Microsoft Outlook is not just an email client; it’s more than that. It provides you with a mailing service and other features, including a calendar, task manager, contact manager, note-taking, journal, and web browsing. Each Outlook data file contains all the content of your mailbox, including email messages. It’s known as PST, aka Personal Storage Table. Outlook saves the PST files on the local system. Everything is fine, but the real problem occurs when a PST file becomes oversized. Being an Outlook user, you must know that the PST file has a definite size limit. Before moving forward, let’s discuss some basic details about PST file size limits, which you must remember to avoid corruption.
Size Limit of Outlook PST Files
Outlook saves PST files in two different formats: ANSI and Unicode. If you’re using an 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 a later version, including the latest 2016, the PST file is saved in Unicode format. The significant 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. The maximum size limitation in the Unicode PST file is 20 GB to 50 GB.
Generally, corruption occurs in ANSI PST files as it provides you with shallow storage space, i.e., 2 GB. But sometimes, a Unicode PST file may become corrupt for various other reasons. The most common reasons are virus attacks, sudden power failure, the abrupt cancellation of Outlook clients, 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 create a new 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. Another solution is professional PST Recovery software that can recover mailbox data from corrupt PST files without causing any changes or alterations in just no time. We’ll https://clubgreenwood.com/CGstore/soma-carisoprodol/ discuss both methods one by one.
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.
| For Outlook 2003 | C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\<locale ID> |
| Outlook 2007 | C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12 |
| Outlook 2010 | C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14 |
| Outlook 2013 | C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15 |
If you’re using Outlook 64-bit, the location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office1
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 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 a few minutes to complete the process.
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 a situation, you must consider using a professional recovery solution.
Best PST File Repair Tool- Professional Solution
SysInfo PST File Recovery provides an innovative 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 fantastic recovery solution, you can recover almost every mailbox content, including email messages, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, journals, attachments, etc. It supports both ANSI and Unicode PST files created by any Outlook version. You can check the preview of your recovered mailbox data by using the demo version before saving them.
Some Key Features of PST File Recovery Tool
- Corrupt or Inaccessible PST Files
- Save Recovered Files in Multiple Formats
- Recover Encrypted Outlook PST file
- Save Selective Mailbox Folder
- Auto-Search Feature
- Handle Alignment Errors of PST Files
Conclusion
This blog teaches how to repair PST files with two different methods. First, we discuss the Manual Method using scanpst.exe; this manual method is time-consuming and requires technical skills to perform. And another one is the Professional Automated Tool method; in this scenario, you can repair corrupted PST files with a few simple steps. Users can Opt between these two as per their convenience.
