Outlook PST Repairs

Learn to use two simple maintenance and repair tools for Microsoft Outlook.

Just as with Microsoft Access databases, Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders (.pst files) can become bloated and inefficient, as well as corrupted or damaged.

Crucial Microsoft Outlook .pst File Backups

As with Microsoft Access, be sure your Personal Folders File is backed up and verified every night. Again, if you have a very low tolerance for data loss, consider backing up more often than once a day.

The “Corporate or Workgroup” version of Microsoft Outlook 2000 has a very straightforward utility for compacting your Personal Folders File (.pst). And, just as when you compacted Microsoft Access .mdb files, you can get an idea of the impact of this operation by inspecting the .pst file size, both before and after compacting. Once again, you can find file size information through Windows Explorer.

Tip:
To learn whether you’re running the “Corporate or Workgroup” version of Microsoft Outlook 2000, go to the Help menu and choose the About command.

Compacting a Microsoft Outlook .pst Personal Folders File

To compact your Personal Folders File, first exit out of Microsoft Outlook. Then, from your Start menu, go to Settings, and then Control Panel.

Figure 3-10

Although a Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) can become bloated, the Compact Now button allows you to remedy this problem easily.

While you’re in this dialog box, for future reference record the file name and path of the Personal Folders File in Table 3-5.

Microsoft Outlook .pst File Maintenance Planner

	Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe)	Personal Folders (*.pst)
Location on My Computer (drive letter: \folder\filename)

Table 3-5

To run the Inbox Repair Tool, you’ll need to know the file path location of both the Inbox Repair Tool and the Personal Folders File. Use Table 3-5 to record these file path locations.

When compacting is complete, click OK and then another OK to close the Mail applet. Then close the Control Panel.

Inbox Repair Tool for Microsoft Outlook .pst Files

Sometimes, instead of just compacting for the sake of proactive maintenance, you may get an error message that prevents you from opening your Personal Folders when you launch Microsoft Outlook. If you’ve already tried obvious troubleshooting steps (rebooting your PC and making sure you’re logged on properly), try the Inbox Repair Tool.

Because the Inbox Repair Tool utility program and Personal Folders File often end up in various locations on different PCs, the first step is to find the Inbox Repair Tool. So let’s first open Windows Explorer, also known as Exploring Windows or Windows NT Explorer.

Right click on My Computer and choose the Search or Find File command. To find the Inbox Repair Tool, we’ll search for the file named scanpst.exe, as you’ll see in Figure 3-11. Then record the folder path of scanpst.exe in Table 3-5 earlier in this section. The full path and file name of your Personal Folders File (.pst)  already was recorded in Table 3-5 when you compacted the Personal Folders File earlier in this section.

Figure 3-11

Before you can run the Inbox Repair Tool for Microsoft Outlook, first determine where its scanpst.exe file is on your hard drive.

To launch the Inbox Repair Tool, double click on the scanpst.exe file that you found a few moments ago. Then, as you see in Figure 3-12, click the Browse button to select the location of your Personal Folders File (.pst) we identified earlier.

Figure 3-12

Before you can click Start, first enter the name and path of the Personal Folders File you want to scan.

Next, click the Start button and allow the Inbox Repair Tool to do its magic. Take great pains to make sure this process doesn’t get interrupted midstream, as this may result in severe data corruption. After the Inbox Repair Tool scans through your Personal Folders File (eight steps), you’ll get a progress report (Figure 3-13) and an opportunity to back up your Personal Folders File before proceeding.

When you’re ready to continue, click the Repair button to complete the process. Once finished, you will be asked to click OK to acknowledge that the repair process is complete.

Figure 3-13

Before the Inbox Repair Tool goes into Repair mode, you’ll get a brief summary of results and the opportunity to view Details of findings.

Microsoft Outlook PST Repairs Action Items

How often does your company backup users' Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders files (.pst files)?

Do you know if you're running the "Corporate or Workgroup" or "Internet Mail Only" version of Microsoft Outlook?

Do you know where your company's Personal Folders Files are stored?

How often do users compact their Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Files (.pst) to keep Microsoft Outlook functioning at peak performance?

Do you know how to use the Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) to repair a damaged Microsoft Outlook .pst Personal Folders File?

 

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