How to Recover Emails when ScanPST fails?

The Inbox Repair tool or Scanpst.exe as it is commonly known is a built in tool designed to repair corruption in PST files. A PST file is a data file that stores all Outlook data like emails, contacts, calendars, etc. It is basically a file that contains a backup of all Outlook items. Any corruption or issue with the PST file can cause Outlook to not work properly.

Table of Contents:

• Why does ScanPST.exe fail or return errors?
• Recover Emails After ScanPST Errors
• How to view recovered emails and copy them to your default PST file?
• How to avoid accidental deletion of emails and other items in Outlook?

In order to repair these corruption issues, Microsoft provides a built in tool called ScanPST. This tool, along with repairing corrupt PST's also has the ability to recover deleted or lost emails from Outlook. Hence, many users use ScanPST to not only repair PST files, but also to recover emails.

Why does ScanPST.exe fail or return errors?

ScanPST, although a very useful tool has certain limitations. That is, it can be used only to repair corrupt indexes and data structures. So, if the PST file involves corruption in other areas of the PST database, ScanPST may fail or produce error messages.

While that is one drawback with ScanPST, there are also others such as it cannot work with over-sized PST files or PST files that are severely corrupt. In these cases, ScanPST fails because it cannot successfully rebuild indexes to repair the PST file and hence cannot recover deleted emails.

Recover Emails After ScanPST Error

To address this issue, use the specialized Remo Repair Outlook PST, to fix PST files and recover deleted emails, contacts, calendars, and other Outlook items.

The tool can fix even severely corrupted PST files and skillfully recover deleted emails, including components like To, From, Subject, and body, along with attachments.

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Steps to Recover Emails when ScanPST produces Errors Using Remo Repair PST

1. As a first step, download and install Remo Repair PST on your computer. After successful installation, launch the software to open the main screen.

2. In the main screen, you will find 3 options: 'Select PST file manually', 'Open default PST file' and 'Find All PST files'. Choose 'Select PST file manually' if you know the location of the PST file. If you do not know the location of the PST file, select Open Default PST file for the software to locate it

3. If you selected 'Select PST file manually' in the previous step, browse to the location of the PST file and select it

4. Next, select Normal Scan (since you recovering emails) and select a location to save the repaired PST file

5. Click Repair for the software to start recovery of deleted emails

6. Once the scan completes, your PST file with recovered emails are stored in the destination specified in Step 4.

How to view recovered emails and copy them to your default PST file?

Once Remo Repair PST has recovered all your Outlook emails, you can view them in Outlook and copy them to your default PST file using the guide below.

• Open Outlook and click File > Open > Open Outlook Data File
• Select the PST file repaired by Remo Repair PST to open the repaired PST file with recovered emails
• Right click on the emails you want to move (use Ctrl to select multiple) and select Move
• Then select Copy to Folder and select the folder (like Inbox) to move the recovered emails to
• Now you should be able to view all the recovered emails in the desired folder

How to avoid accidental deletion of emails and other items in Outlook?

With the help of some simple tips provided here, you can easily avoid accidental deleting of emails and other items in Outlook.

• Double check prior to manually deleting email or any item in Outlook
• Turn OFF 'Empty deleted items upon exit' option
• Have your 'Auto Archive' feature setup to delete old items from the Deleted Items folder