Repair PST File by using Default Inbox Repair Tool (SCANPST)

Emails have become a critical part of businesses and organizations from last few decades. Even individuals are widely using emails for communication. There are various email applications available for users but Microsoft Outlook is most prominent email clients all around the globe. It’s a personal information manager provided by Microsoft and comes inbuilt with Office suite. Apart from the email application, it contains compelling features like contact management, calendar, task management, note taking, journal creation, and web browsing.

Outlook Data File

Microsoft Outlook stores all the email messages and other mailbox data in an Outlook data file on the local system. This file is usually known as a Personal Storage Table or PST. An Outlook data file has two types: ANSI and Unicode. ANSI is the default file format in Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions. An ANSI PST file comes in maximum size of 2GB. Contrary, Microsoft Outlook 2003 and its afterward versions comes in a Unicode format whose maximum size limit ranges from 20 GB (2003 & 2007) to 50 GB (2010, 2013, & 2016).

An Outlook data file becomes vulnerable to the errors when its data reaches the maximum size limit. Performance issues may occur due to heavy PST files and an error in PST file can lead to corruption and more likely to become inaccessible. However, there are many other reasons as well, which cause corruption in PST file such as virus attack, sudden cancellation of the Outlook client, unexpected system shutdown, hard disk failure, software failure, etc. Corruption is always distressing since it may cause data loss. Thankfully, Microsoft inbuilt SCANPST tool in Outlook to troubleshoot such type of issues.

Before going for a solution, do some necessary steps to check the PST file is it really corrupted or damaged. To do so perform below-given steps:

• Browse to the PST files location. You can simply find the PST files by opening Outlook email. Tap File> Info> Account Settings> Data Files.* Once you find the PST files, right-click on it and go to the Properties.* Select the Compatibility tab. You need to click on it to clear all the Compatibility Mode checkboxes. Click Apply and OK.* Restart your computer and make sure that everything is working fine.

If these above steps won’t help you go for the SCANPST tool to recover your file.

Fix an Outlook PST Data File Using SCANPST

First, go to the scanpst folder. Make sure Microsoft Outlook email is not currently running on your system. * Double-tap the scanpst home utility* The tool window will pop up.* Now click the browse switch and select the corrupt PST file* Click the Start button and scan the corrupt PST file for errors.* The scanning process is being run on your system. Wait until it gets successfully completed.* After completing the process, you can check all the errors and corruption issues (if found).* You can create a backup of this scanned file before repairing it. Just marked check and make a backup of scanned file before repairing box. You may also uncheck it.* Click the button to repair PST file.* You will receive a message flashing "Repair complete".* Click OK to confirm it.

Limitations of Scanpst.exe

The Scanpst.exe is pondered as a first-aid tool for PST corruption issues. The tool will repair the PST file in various cases. However, there is no guarantee that it will totally repair the PST file. There are many inadequacies with this utility.

• Harshly damaged corrupt PST files cannot be repaired by using scanpst.exe.* Scanpst.exe needs to run at least 5-8 times to totally remove the errors.
• Scanpst.exe is vulnerable to threats such as malware and spyware attacks.

When the scanpst.exe tool flops to repair the PST file, Recovee Outlook PST Repair can be a handy option for users. It severely scans the corrupt PST files and rapidly recovers mailbox items such as emails, contact list, calendar events, tasks, and notes, etc. Moreover, the demo version of this tool is available with extensive-range of features.

The author of this article is experienced in troubleshooting Outlook problems and knowledge about Database Repair.