Wondering why Outlook doesn’t open normally or throws error messages every time you access your Outlook PST file. This can be due to the PST file corruption. There is no one particular reason for PST file corruption. For example, incompatibility issues between the PST file and the Windows version, oversized PST file, severe virus infection to the PST file, improper way of terminating the Outlook application and many more. However, the only fix for all these issues is to rebuild the PST file.
So now how to rebuild the PST? Don’t worry, for this Microsoft offers a free “Inbox Repair Tool” called as ScanPST.exe. With this you can rebuild your corrupt or damaged PST file, which scans your PST file completely, fixes the errors.
Below is the complete procedure for rebuilding the PST file, just read on:
Step 1: First you will have to close Outlook. Before closing make sure no mails or any other Outlook PST attributes are open. Close all of them and then terminate the Outlook.
Step 2: Then locate the “Inbox Repair Tool” on your computer and execute it. For this navigate to the below path:
Computer-> C: -> Program Files - > Microsoft Office - > Office12 (In Outlook 2010 it is Office 14)
Then in the Office 12 (Office 14) folder, search for “scanpst.exe” file and double-click on it to execute it.
Step 3: Choose the PST file that you want to scan with the Inbox Repair Tool. If you are not aware of the location of the PST file then click on the “Browse” button and search for it.
Step 4: Then, just click on the “Start” button. This will initiate the Scanning process and will take some time depending on the size of the PST file.
Step 5: In case the errors are encountered while scanning the PST file, the entire errors and scan results will be displayed. It then creates a backup during the repair process. Provide a name for the backup file when prompted and click on “Repair”. Just wait for until the repair process is completed.
Step 6: Once the process completed, the PST will be rebuilt. Then, just open Outlook, click the “Go” menu and select the “Folder List” option.
Step 7: In the consecutive window search for either the “Recovered Personal Folder” or “Lost and Found”.
NOTE: The “Recovered Personal Folder” will be empty, since it is the rebuilt PST and the “Lost and Found” folder should contain all the items that were recovered after executing the inbox repair tool.With this your PST has been rebuilt. Even though the results of using ScanPST.exe would provide satisfactory results; there are huge chances of causing the furthermore corruption of the PST file. Moreover, it is a very lengthy and a cumbersome process. Instead you can make use of the third-party tool called Remo Repair Outlook (PST), which is the best and safest tool to rebuild the Outlook PST file. This utility can easily scan and fix all the errors in just few minutes and recover Outlook profile easily.
