How to open pst files without outlook. Opening and Closing Outlook Data Files (PST Files)

A data store file containing personal information used in Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. Includes email folders, contacts, addresses and other data.

PST files have a 2 GB size limit and cause Outlook to freeze when the file is close to this size. Microsoft provides a program called Exchange 2000 Tool: PST2GB that reduces the size of the PST file. But this utility can truncate the file - this means that some data may be lost, so you must first copy the PST file to the backup.

Unlike the full version of Outlook, Outlook Express does not use PST files. But Outlook Express can import PST data using the Import function of the Import program. Mac users can use the PST Import Tool for Entourage to import PST data into Entourage.

The .pst file extension is a personal information file. This file can be opened with the following programs: Microsoft Outlook 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook Express, Remo Repair Outlook (PST).

If there is a computer installed antivirus software can scan all files on the computer, as well as each file separately... You can scan any file by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.

For example, in this figure, file my-file.pst, then you need to right-click on this file, and select the option from the file menu "Scan with AVG"... Selecting this option will open AVG Antivirus, which will scan this file for viruses.

Sometimes an error can result from incorrect software installation, which may be due to a problem encountered during the installation process. It may interfere with your operating system link your PST file to the correct application softwareinfluencing the so-called "File extension associations".

Sometimes simple reinstalling Microsoft Outlook Express can solve your problem by linking PST with Microsoft Outlook Express correctly. In other cases, problems with file associations can result from bad software programming developer, and you may need to contact the developer for further assistance.

Advice: Try updating Microsoft Outlook Express to the latest version to make sure you have the latest patches and updates.

It may seem too obvious, but often the PST file itself may be causing the problem... If you received a file via an email attachment or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (for example, a power outage or other reason), the file may be damaged... If possible, try to get a fresh copy of the PST file and try opening it again.

Caution: A damaged file can cause collateral damage to previous or pre-existing malware on your PC, so it is very important that you have an updated antivirus running on your PC at all times.

If your PST file related to the hardware on your computerto open the file you may need update device driversrelated to this equipment.

This problem usually associated with types of media filesthat depend on the successful opening of hardware inside the computer, for example sound card or video card... For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.

Advice: If when you try to open a PST file, you get sYS file related error message, the problem could probably be related to corrupted or outdated device driversthat need to be updated. This process can be facilitated by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.

If the steps did not solve the problemand you're still having problems opening PST files, it might be related to lack of available system resources... Some versions of PST files may require a significant amount of resources (e.g. memory / RAM, processing power) to open properly on your computer. This problem occurs quite often if you are using fairly old computer hardware and at the same time a much newer operating system.

This problem can occur when the computer has a hard time completing a task, as the operating system (and other services running in the background) can consume too many resources to open the PST file... Try closing all applications on your PC before opening Outlook Personal Information Store File. By freeing up all the available resources on your computer, you will provide a better environment for trying to open the PST file.

If you completed all the steps aboveand your PST file still won't open, you might need to do equipment upgrade... In most cases, even with older hardware versions, the processing power may still be more than adequate for most custom applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work like 3D rendering, financial / scientific modeling, or heavy multimedia work) ... In this way, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(more commonly called "RAM", or random access memory) to perform the task of opening a file.

You need to click on the "Personal folders" section, then select "Open Outlook Data File" in the context menu that opens.

The window that opens will show the Microsoft Office Outlook folder, which stores the files for this application by default. The Outlook data file can have either the PST or OST extension. If the data file is stored in a different folder, you must navigate to that folder in the same window.

To open a file, select it and click on the "OK" button, or simply double-click on this file.

2. How to copy Outlook 2007 data file?

It can be helpful to make a copy of all Outlook messages. To do this, you just need to select the file and copy it using either the context menu (as shown in the picture), or the "Ctrl + C" hotkey combination.

Important!Before you can paste the copied file, you must turn off Microsoft Office Outlook and wait until the program is complete (as a rule, this wait takes several seconds). Otherwise, the operating system will display an error message.

Mail client Microsoft Outlook stores user data not only on a remote server. The mail client can save the data of accounts using the POP and IMAP protocols in files of the format PST available offline. Files PST can be used as a backup copy of emails, contacts, calendar events and other data, as well as for transferring them to another computer with an installed mail client from Microsoft.

Now imagine a situation when you have a previously saved file in your hands PST but not yet Outlook, but you need to view the contents of the file. Open PST -file with an ordinary text editor will not work, but there are programs that can read PST without the help of any means Microsoft... Today we will look at three such applications - and.

The capabilities of the free version of this program are limited, it only allows you to view the headers, the sender's address and the date of receipt of the letter, which, of course, is not enough. The application supports the export of read data to Html -format, but again in the free version the data will be exported to a limited extent.

Among the advantages, it should be noted advanced search, creating snapshots of the current state of the program, searching PST -files on a local disk, maintaining a detailed log of actions. And also PST File Viewer from SysInfoTools can read PST -files with damaged structure.

Unlike , this tool lacks any additional functions like export to other formats, all it can do is open PST -files.

The contents of the mail client files are available in full. Supports simultaneous viewing of multiple files PST data, including damaged, password-protected and with attachments, is displayed in a formatted, easy-to-read form. understands encodings ANSI and UNICODE , able to work with PST -files larger than 2 GB.

As the name suggests, this program is intended for converting PST -files to other formats, but you can just as well use it as a viewer.

Also supports browsing content PST -base Outlook in full, excluding investments. The utility can extract from files PST contacts in VCF , transform PST in MBOX , MSG and EML / EMLX paid, but the limitations of the test version affect only the conversion functions.

Microsoft Outlook, which is the undisputed leader in the segment of corporate email clients on desktop PCs, stores user data in OST and PST files. OST - the file is a cached copy of the user's mailbox stored on the MS Exchange server. PSTIs a personal folders file containing user emails and stored locally on the computer. Quite a large number of Outlook users, to one degree or another, faced problems opening pst files due to their corruption. The inability to open the archive with letters by the user results in a headache for administrators and technical services. support.

In this article, we will talk about the main causes of damage to personal pst files and a simple technique for recovering them.

Reasons for damaged personal folders archive files Outlook can be different: it can be both errors on the file system (in this case, you should start with), or damage to the structure of pst files caused by emergency closing of the Outlook client (most common), power failure, virus actions, due to storage pst files on a shared network folder (this configuration is not supported by Microsoft), etc.

Also, do not forget about the limitations on the maximum pst file size in different versions of Outlook. If the maximum file size is exceeded or when a large file is opened in an old version of the mail client, Outlook may not work correctly. Pst file size limitsthe following:

• Outlook 2002 and earlier - pst files are ANSI format and are limited to 2 GB in size
• Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 - 20 GB limit
• Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013 - pst / ost files are Unicode and are limited to a maximum size of 50 GB

In addition, do not forget that the larger the file, the greater the likelihood of errors in it, therefore it is recommended to work with pst files 2-8 GB in size

If the pst file is damaged, the Outlook client, in whole or in part, loses the ability to open it, giving, for example, the following error:

Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook windows. The set of folders cannot be opened. Errors have been detected in the file ... .outlook.pst

The file ... outlook.pst is not an Outlook data file (.pst)

The presence of such errors indicates that the pst data file is damaged and requires restoration of its logical structure.

First of all, let's figure out where Outlook actually stores pst files. By default, * .pst (personal folders) and * .ost (local cached copy of Exchange server folders) files are stored in the following directories, depending on the OS version:

• Windows 2000, 2003, XP: C: \\ Documents and Settings \\% username% \\ Local Settings \\ Application Data \\ Microsoft \\ Outlook
• Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8: C: \\ users \\% username% \\ AppData \\ Local \\ Microsoft \\ Outlook

But the user, if necessary, can create / move the file of personal folders to an arbitrary location.

Important! Before proceeding with restoring the pst file, create a backup copy of it, thereby you will protect yourself from possible further damage to the file by the recovery utility or by Outlook itself.

To repair damage in Outlook archive folders, Microsoft includes a special utility in the Office suite (in my opinion, starting from the 2000 version of MS Office) Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe ). This small utility is not a universal panacea that allows you to restore a pst file after any damage, but it can solve most of the typical problems with files in personal folders.

You can find the utility in the directory:

c: \\ Program Files \\ Microsoft Office \\ OFFICE [Office version number, - 11,12,13,14)

So, for example, for Office 2010 the path to the directory with the scanpst.exe utility will be as follows:

C: \\ Program Files \\ Microsoft Office \\ OFFICE14

For Outlook 2013 this rule does not work, look for the utility in the c: \\ Program directory Files \\ Microsoft Office 15 \\ root \\ office15

Note... On a 64 bit system, if a 64 bit path is used, it looks like this C: \\ Program Files (x86) \\ Microsoft Office \\ Office14

Let's try to repair the damage in the pst file in automatic mode. To do this, run the scanpst.exe utility and specify the path to the pst file.

Important! Before running the utility, be sure to close Outlook and other processes using the restored pst file.

To start the process of scanning a file for errors, press the button Start.

The process of checking and analyzing the file structure consists of 8 stages. The check time depends on the size of the pst file and the number of errors in it.

In our case, the utility reported that the personal folders file contains errors and offers to start the procedure for its restoration (button Repair). If you haven't created a backup copy of the pst file yet, you can do it now by checking the checkbox and specifying the file name.

After pressing the button Repair the process of restoring the pst file is started, which also consists of 8 stages. In our example, for a 1 GB archive, the recovery process took about 15 minutes.

If everything goes smoothly, after the utility finishes, a message will appear Repair completeand you can try to open the pst file in Outlook.

So, as we already said, the scanpst.exe utility should help in most cases (about 90%) when errors occur or the pst files of personal folders are damaged. The scanpst utility will not be able to help if:

• there is damage in the pst file headers
• personal folders file is password protected
• need to recover accidentally deleted messages or folders
• when the maximum pst file size is exceeded
• in case of complex damage to the logical and physical structure of the pst file