When looking into PST repair and recovery we need to try and ascertain why the PST or personal folder has become corrupt in the first place, otherwise if we manage to repair it, what’s to stop the same thing happening again?

The most common fault of a PST becoming corrupt is the size, once the maximum size is reached or almost reached files do become unreliable.

If you’re using Outlook 97, 98, 2000 or XP which all use American National Standards Institute or ANSI then the maximum size is 2gb .

Using Outlook 2003 or later uses UNICODE this allows the Maximum size to be much more useful 20gb .

PST files can also become corrupt when the connection to them from Outlook is severed while they were in use, this can happen is Outlook is forcibly closed or if the PST stored on a network then the network connection fails or disconnects.

Before we begin the PST repair Close outlook and copy the PST file to a local location such as your C drive, running repairs to large PST files over a network can be a slow process.

Once you’ve copied the file locally this also serves another purpose as you also now have a backup of the file just in case.

Search for the application called SCANPST.EXE which is the PST repair tool
This will be installed when you install office, it normally resides in C:\program files\common files\system\msmapi\1033
It can also be found on the Office installation CD

Launch SCANPST.EXE and you’ll see the Inbox Repair Tool
Browse to the location of the PST files you wish to repair
Select Start

It will then run through 8 tests of the file. Now’s a good time to grab a coffee if the PST file is large as this can take some time.

Once finished you’ll see a report of the file including the errors, files and folders

Now open Outlook and remove the old PST file, and add the new one.
Remember that the PST file is running locally on your computer at the moment, check to make sure that you are happy with it, if the size is too large break it down into multiple PST files now.

Once done remove it from Outlook and copy it to your network location replacing the old corrupt one.

To add PST / Personal folders to your computer
Open Outlook File Menu > Data File Management > Add…
Browse to the location of your PST file

To remove PST / Personal Folders from your computer
Open Outlook File Menu > Data File Management > select the file you wish to remove and select Remove

For more information checkout our Video on how to repair Outlook PST/Personal Folders.

Notes
You cannot work on PST files while Outlook is open
Copying emails between PST files can take a long time, and the worse thing you can do is to stop the process once started.

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