How to Repair Microsoft Outlook Email Archive .PST File

Microsoft includes a tool with Outlook to repair PST files.

Microsoft Outlook stores your emails, calendars and contacts in Personal Folder, or PST, files. If you have Outlook configured to automatically archive your emails after a specific number of days, those archives are also stored in PST files. If the PST file containing your archived data becomes corrupt, you can lose all of the emails and other data stored in the file. Microsoft Office includes an Outlook Inbox Repair Tool that will scan and repair PST files.

Instructions

1. Click "File," then "Exit" to close Microsoft Outlook.

2. Open Windows Explorer. Browse through your file system to where Microsoft Outlook is installed. On a 32-bit Windows system, this will be "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office XX," where "XX" is the Office version number. On a 64-bit Windows system, this will be "c:\Program Files (x68)\Microsoft Office\Office XX."

3. Double-click "scanpst.exe." Click the "Browse" button and navigate to "c:\users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook." Double-click "archive.pst."

4. Click "Start." The utility scans your archived PST file and reports any errors or corruption in the file.

5. Click "Make Backup of Scanned File Before Repairing" if the Scanpst program finds errors. Click "Repair." Close the confirmation window when the repair is finished.

References

• Microsoft: Using the Outlook Personal Folders Backup Tool
• Microsoft: Repair Outlook Data Files (,PST and .OST)
• Indiana Wesleyan University: Outlook Inbox Repair Tool

Resources

• Microsoft: Outlook 2010