Microsoft Outlook program stores all the email items precisely in a particular file format which is known as .PST file. Any unfavorable condition may cause issues with MS Outlook. Outlook users commonly report issues such as "Outlook PST could not be accessed", "unable to open PST file", "unable to send/receive emails", etc. All such errors occur mostly due to corruption of the PST file. As a result, they have to go for Outlook file repair tool that can fix issues and recover PST file data. Following are the general symptoms of PST file corruption:
- While opening an Outlook file, you get the following error message, i.e.
"The file xxx.pst is not a personal folders file." - You come across the below errors when you open MS Outlook: "The file xxx.pst could not be found."
OR "Unable to display the folder. The file xxx.pst could not be accessed. Access denied."
Besides the abovementioned errors, you may also meet various other error messages.
Causes of PST corruption:
- Corruption of PST (personal storage table) files is the major cause of issues. So, you should be very careful about the size, safety and security of PST files.
- Users generally store different types of files on their computer. Corruption of those stored files may cause corruption also in PST files.
- Attack of any malicious virus affect integrity of PST file and make them inaccessible.
- Sudden exit or termination of Outlook may results corruption of the Outlook database, i.e. PST file. So, make sure that you exit Outlook properly.
- Outlook PST files are stored at hard disk drive. Sometimes, such storage media gets corrupted due to any possible reason and all stored data become out of order. So, you should make regular backup of your Outlook PST database and store them at other safe places.
- When PST files are stored on a network involving client and server computers, network links, routers, and a faulty network device may lead to corruption of the Outlook PST.
- Proper power supply is necessary for overall email communication. You should make sure that your computer is getting uninterrupted power supply.
Facing errors while working with Outlook is the symptom of corruption of the Outlook database, i.e. PST file. You can repair Outlook PST issues by using a free utility Scanpst.exe which is also known as Inbox repair tool. However, this tool has some limitations and unable to fix all issues of PST file.
- This free inbox repair tool is capable to repair only the minor corruptions like header issues and can't repair the whole broken file.
- If you are applying this tool over the large size PST file then scanpst.exe collapses as repairing oversize file is beyond its capability and result in various errors.
- Many times, it fails to scan errors and reports no error in the PST file, but Outlook keeps complaining.
- The inbox repair tool cannot recover the complete data as it loses some part of the data while recovery.
In case, you have no expected result of Outlook PST recovery then you should look for a professional tool like Kernel for Outlook PST repair. It is much capable to fix your Outlook PST issues and restore them affecting their integrity. Alternatively one can refer to free PST Viewer tool, to access emails and other items from healthy or corrupted Outlook data files.
