There must be many important files in Outlook application. In most cases, these files can be kept well. However, if they get damaged, do you know how to repair them? Actually, a repair tool in the desktop version can be used to fix problems with Outlook .pst and .ost. Please find the guide in this post.
No matter which Outlook version you are using, it always stores a lot of emails, contacts, and calendars with two kinds of data files.
If you are using an IMAP or POP account, the account information will be stored inside of an Outlook Data File (PST). While if you are using an Office 365, Exchange, or Outlook.com account, it will be stored in the Offline Outlook Data File (OST).
Generally, these files can be kept well. However, they may get damaged by accident. Due to this reason, there is a built-in repair tool in the desktop version which can be used to fix problems with Outlook .pst and .ost.
In the following contents, we will tell you how to repair corrupted data files and recover missing items from your inbox.
How to Repair Offline Outlook Data File (.ost)
No matter you are using an Exchange, Office 365, or Outlook.com account, you can use these steps to fix problems with a .ost file.
Step 1: Close the email app and then open Control Panel. After that, go to User Accounts > Mail.
Step 2: Then, you will see the following Mail Setup interface. Next, click on the Show Profiles button to continue.
Step 3: Then, you need to choose the profile with the account you want to fix. Here, the default profile is Outlook. Next, please click on the Properties button.
Step 4: On the next page, you need to click on the Email Accounts button. Then, please go to Data Files and choose the broken account. After that, you need to press the Open File Location button.
Step 5: Then, you need to press the close button for the windows of Account Settings, Mail Setup and Mail.
Step 6: Right-click on the .ost file for the account which has issues, and choose the Delete option from the popup list.
Step 7: When the above steps end, you can open the Outlook desktop version to recreate the .ost file for the account which you want to repair.
How to Repair Outlook Data File (.pst)
If your email account is using IMAP or POP settings, you can follow these steps to fix issues with a .pst file:
Step 1: Close the Outlook application. Then, press the Win + R keys to open Run. Next, type the following path on the blank box and press OK:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
Step 2: Find the SCANPST.EXE file and double-click on it to open the Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair experience.
Step 3: Then, you need to click on the Browse button and the find the .pst file you want to fix. After that, click on the Open button and Start button successively.
Step 4: Check the Make a backup of scanned file before repairing option and then click on the Repair button.
At last, the Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool will begin to scan and repair the .pst file for the issued email account.
When the repairing process finishes, you can start Outlook application to see whether the issue is solved.
Now, the introduction of ways to fix problems with Outlook .pst and .ost are finished. However, if you delete the Outlook files by mistake, you can use a piece of free file recovery tool to get them back, and we recommend you to use MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Stella has been working in MiniTool Software as an English Editor for more than 7 years. Her articles mainly cover the fields of data recovery including storage media data recovery and phone data recovery, YouTube videos download, partition management, and video conversions.