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Repair corrupt Outlook PST & OST personal data files with Inbox Repair Tool

TIP: Download this tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically

At times you may find that your Outlook .pst files have been corrupted and that you are unable to access them. Microsoft has provided the Inbox Repair Tool which lets you recover folders and items from corrupted Personal Folders or .pst files. It can even recover items from an offline folder or .ost files. The OST Integrity Check Tool will help you fix corrupted .ost files. It has also released a Microsoft Fix It that lets you do so easily.

Repair Outlook PST & OST data files

Let us see how we can repair corrupt Outlook 2016/2013/2010/2007 .PST & .OST personal data files on your Windows 10/8/7 PC.

Outlook Inbox Repair Tool

repair corrupt outlook pst files

The Inbox Repair Tool or Scanpst.exe is located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 folder depending on the Office version that you are using. Run this scanpst.exe tool as Administrator. Next, in the space provided, enter the name and location of the file you want to scan and click Start.

Next, in the space provided, enter the name and location of the file you want to scan and click Start. To find the location of the data file, open Outlook > File > Account Information >  Account Settings > Data files tab. Here you can see the path of all the data folders. Note down the path of the file you want to repair and enter it in the given field.

Click on the Scan button. If repairs are needed, you will be shown.

repair outlook data files

Click on the Repair button to start the repairs.The tool can recover the following personal folders:

The tool can recover the following personal folders:

  • Calendar
  • Contacts
  • Deleted Items
  • Inbox
  • Journal
  • Notes
  • Outbox
  • Sent Items
  • Tasks.

Repair corrupt Outlook PST files using Fix It

While the Inbox Repair Tools is quite easy to use, if you are too lazy even to do this, you can download and run Microsoft Fix It 50569 from KB272227. This Fix-It will do the needful automatically.

A PST file has a 2-GB size limit. Once this limit is reached, corruption will start occurring.

In such a case if the Inbox Repair Tool cannot fix the corruption, you can try to use the Oversized PST And OST Crop Utility or the PST2GB Tool from Microsoft first, and then again repeat the Inbox Repair Tool.

This tool deletes 25 MB of data from the file to bring the file back within the allowed. While this tool was used in the earlier versions of Outlook, I am not sure about its use or applicability in the current Outlook version. So please read all the instructions and exercise utmost caution should you think you can and should run this tool. If you need more help on this, you may contact Microsoft Support.

TIP: These software will help you recover forgotten Outlook PST Password.

OST Integrity Check Tool

The OST Integrity Check tool will help you fix error messages which you may be receiving when you synchronize your Offline Folder file (.ost) in Outlook.

The OST Integrity Check tool or Scanost.exe is installed in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE.

You can use this tool to identify, diagnose and fix or repair .ost synchronization issues. Click on scanost.exe to start the tool and select the profile whose .ost files you want to scan. Click on Connect and then Begin Scan.

OLFix Tool

olfix repair outlook pst ost files

OLFix may also interest you as it allows you repair more Outlook problems. Stellar PST Viewer will let you scan and view contents of damaged or corrupted Outlook data files (.pst) files.

If you are facing other issues, check our post on how to Troubleshoot Microsoft Outlook problems.

Hope this helps!

Now read: Unable to access PST File or start Outlook after upgrading to Windows 10.

TIP: Download this tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically

AnandK@TWC

AnandK@TWC

Anand Khanse is the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, a 10-year Microsoft MVP Awardee in Windows (2006-16) & a Windows Insider MVP since then. Please read the entire post & the comments first, create a System Restore Point before making any changes to your system & be careful about any 3rd-party offers while installing freeware.

25 Comments

  2. Thank you!!! Fantastic instructions. “Errors have been detected in the file outlook.PST”. Try something else… outlook PST repair tool which is more helpful to solutions.

  4. Thank you!!! Fantastic instructions. “Errors have been detected in the file outlook.PST”. Try something else… outlook PST repair tool which is more helpful to solutions.

  5. There is no doubt that built-in scanpst tool is capable to handle most of the issues of MS Outlook. However, this application fails in case of heavily corruption or damaged. 2 weeks ago, I was experiencing corruption issue and I tried the scanpst tool but no success. After googlng and investing some times on the Web, I found an Outlook PST repair tool as mentioned here:http://www.recover-computerdata.com/outlook-pst-repair.html

    After using this application, I found that tool is really capable to handle all corruption problems in MS Outlook.

  6. Sometimes you need to run the Scanpst.exe 3 to 4 times to repair the pst file. But firstly , you need to identify the version of Microsoft Outlook that you are using. The size limitation for .pst file is 2 GB in Microsoft Outlook 2002 and its earlier versions .

    Also Scanpst.exe is not able to repair the .pst file which have the size of more than 2 GB. So it is necessary to know the version of the Outlook and reason for .pst file corruption. Once you get the information then either Scanpst.exe or not. So more use in such cases

    Thanks
    http://pstrepairtool.blogspot.com

  7. Download Inbox repair tool to run it and get rid
    of all the issues pertaining to the damage or corruption of the PST file. But
    if there are issues other than header corruption then the tool would be of no use.
    In such a situation you need to make use of efficient and reliable third party
    PST recovery software that can recover all lost or inaccessible files

    http://downloadinboxrepairtool.org/

  10. No doubt, inbox repair tool is free utility but it faces several critics like unable to fetch PST file, emptied by unknown error or bug and lack of assurance with result. In case, you data is brutally affected then you should opt for advanced inbox repair methodology.

  11. It is a very common problem that your PST file gets corrupted due to several reasons. THus, if you need to repair your corrupted pst file then the best option is to use a software. Use Outlook PST Repair Tool in order to recover your corrupted pst file safely. For more information please visit the site:

    http://www.recoverfilesdata.com/outlook-pst-repair.html
    use free demo version.

  14. Most of MVP’s are recommended that Outlook user can use advanced version of Inbox repair tool when traditional ScanPST.exe fails. To know, how a robust PST repair tool works given below:
    http://www.scanpst.net/

  15. I’m curious as to the size of the PST. Due to the age of it, it may be limited to 2GB. If the size now is very close to that it is very possible that is your issue. It just depends on what version of Outlook the PST was originally created in. If the PST is extremely large, that opens up a can of worms too. Anything larger than 10GB is asking for problems and anything larger than 15-20GB is pretty much suicidal. Here is a site with Outlook Repair Toolbox of the various recovery products available. http://www.pst.repairtoolbox.com/how-to-repair-pst-file.html

  16. HI Outlook lab
    I am facing the same issue with Inbox repair tool provided by Microsoft. Can you please suggest me a good advance PST repair utility?

  19. Hi Gebrial
    Outlook is our main personal information manager. We can understand your problem. We’ll advise you to use a good third party tool. We have tested many PST repair software but one which we would recommend you is from Stellar and is available in market with name Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair software. Demo version of this software is absolutely free of cost but demo version will show only preview of repaired mailbox. To save repaired mailbox emails
    you need to purchase this software.

  20. Hi Caleb,

    Microsoft provides a free tool to repair corrupt PST named as Scanpst.exe. We can repair our corrupt Outlook PST
    with Inbox repair utility but it has some limitations like:

    It would not repair PST file of above 2GB.

    No assurance for complete file repair as free tool repairs corruption occurs in header part

    No guarantee you will get back 100%data back after file repairing process.

    To overcome this problem we tested various other PST repair tool available. You could opt for a third party tool that comes with a free demo option.

  22. I was wondering how can i do that in my windows 8.1 preview version..i downloaded that from a site named Fullcracks.net…do i need to update it or activate it before doing that?

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