Explore How to Repair Your Outlook Personal Folder File (.pst) 2010

  author
Written By Kumar Raj
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On September 13th, 2022
Reading Time 7 Minutes Reading

How to repair your Outlook Personal Folder file (.pst) 2010 in Microsoft Outlook account without causing any data loss or data damage? But before going deeply into this, let us see introduce Outlook file formats.

Microsoft Outlook is undoubtedly the most sophisticated desktop-based email client used by both business and individual users. The best part of Outlook is that it provides highly advanced features and access to important data even in offline mode also. OST and PST are the two type of data file supported by MS Outlook. OST maintains the copy of Exchange Server mailbox data on the local machine and lets users work in an offline mode.

PST is Personal Storage Table stores all data items of the mailbox on the local machine. Like any other file, the PST file has also a predefined size limit and when this limit is about to reach, it starts creating issues. Based on the versions of Outlook, PST file is of two types i.e., ANSI and UNICODE. Outlook 2003 and below versions create ANSI type PST file with 2 GB file size limit. Outlook 2007 and above versions create UNICODE type PST file with a 20 to 50 GB size limit.

Despite being so famous among the users, there are some major issues faced by Outlook users. One such common issue is Outlook.pst is not a personal folder file.

As PST file plays a very important role in MS Outlook users life so, a user cannot afford even a small problem with it. If such type of error has arisen, it needs to fix as soon as possible. Therefore, how to repair your Outlook Personal Folder file (.pst) 2010 is the common query by the users to regain access back to PST file.

Outlook Personal File (PST) Issues & Errors

In some cases, the Outlook PST file becomes inaccessible or damaged. And, when a user tries to access or import that inaccessible PST, it displays the following type of error messages:

  • “Outlook.pst is not a personal folders file.”
  • “Outlook Personal Folder is Missing”
  • “Outlook.pst cannot be found”
  • Cannot start Microsoft Outlook, Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened.”

Alternative Solution to Repair Your Outlook Personal Folder File (.pst)

If the PST file is badly damaged, then it is impossible to repair it using a manual approach. However, scanpst.exe is not at all a reliable approach to overcome major level corruption issues in Outlook. Thus, to have a guaranteed solution, a user is recommended to switch to an automated tool. SysTools Outlook PST Repair Software tool is a popular application to deal with all types of corruption issues in Outlook. It repairs all data items stored in the PST file like emails, contacts, calendars, journals, etc. A user can run this application on any version of Windows OS.

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How to Repair a Damaged Outlook Personal Folders File (pst)?

Understand brief steps for repairing damaged or corrupted MS Outlook Personal Folder files in few simple steps with SysTools Software. Follow quick 5 steps working to understand the software.

  • Step 1: Download and add your personal data files (.pst)
  • Step 2: Choose the Advanced Scan option to repair the data file
  • Step 3: Click on Add to start scanning processing
  • Step 4: Export previewed data items into PST file
  • Step 5: Provide destination and required settings options

best pst fix tool

Resolving a damaged Outlook data file (POP file) and easily accessing its data items in your Outlook account. The below image displays scanned corrupted PST file result in software preview panel. The application not only repair severely corrupted data file (.pst), it can display the entire data items in loaded user PST. This displayed data (maintains meta-data) can be saved as per user requirement any file formats (here PST, or in MSG, EML, PDF, HTML, Office 365 etc.)

Reasons Behind PST File Corruption

Now, if a user is frequently facing such type of error messages, then it is important to identify the root cause of this error. Here, we have covered all possible reasons behind these errors:

There are various causes of PST file corruption and all of them are listed below:

  • Large Size of PST File: If the size of the Outlook data file is about to reach the predefined limit, then there are chances of corruption in the PST file. It is one of the primary reasons behind the damaged PST file.
  • Hardware Related Issue: Any type of physical damage to a peripheral connected to PST file can also lead to corruption.
  • Outlook Shutdown Abruptly: Sometimes due to sudden power shutdown Outlook is unable to save data in the PST file properly. And, whenever a user opens that PST file again, there is a disparity in the file and leads to corruption.
  • Virus & Malware Attack: Nowadays, the number of virus and malware attacks are increasing on daily. So, not even a PST file is immune from the same. It is quite common now that a user opens the email and it contains a malicious attachment. However, a virus can damage the Outlook PST file very easily.

How to Repair your Outlook Personal Folder File (.pst) 2010 & Other Versions?

As discussed above, the primary reason behind this Outlook Personal Folders missing issue is due to corruption. So, to remove corruption, a user needs to repair it.

  • Fix Your Broken Outlook Personal Folders (pst) File
    The best part of Microsoft is that it has designed each Office program with an inbuilt repair feature. So you just need to find out where is ScanPST tool is located according to your Outlook version. Moreover, this feature lets the applications fight against the damage issues in PST file. A user can take the help of this utility to repair a damaged Outlook personal folders file (pst) 2010 and other versions. But, there is an issue with this inbuilt utility, it is only capable to remove the minor level of corruption from the PST file, and also sometimes this Inbox Repair Tool creates a not responding error.

Apart from all this, there are some other factors also that might give rise to such errors. All such reasons with respective solutions are discussed below:

  • Change the PST File Authentication
    Microsoft Outlook can access the PST file that has authentication to read or write both. However, if a PST file has only read-only permission, then it cannot be accessed by Outlook. A user has to disable the Read-only property for the PST file but first make a copy of it to some external drive.
    Now, if any of the above tick is unable to solve this issue, then simply move to the next solution discussed below.

Conclusion

Any issue in emailing services can badly affect the work so, it is important to fix it as soon as possible. Like this, Outlook Personal Folder file (.pst) is missing or not found the issue is faced by the most of the users. Thus, to overcome such issue, there are various troubleshooting ways are discussed above. If your PST file is badly damaged, then how to repair your Outlook Personal Folder file (.pst) 2010 is the common query of users. Thus, to resolve this problem, one can switch to a third-party tool suggested above.

 

  author

By Kumar Raj

A versatile writer with the vast knowledge of technology helps to reduce the gap between a user and technology. Provides easy and reliable ways to resolve multiple technical issues, which users encounter in their day-to-day life.