All the emails and contacts and other data used on Outlook is automatically stored in the Personal Storage Table file or the PST file. Lest us find out exactly how to locate the files and create news if necessary.
Microsoft Outlook allows users to perform a bunch of tasks, including email management, maintaining a contact list, calender entries, notes, journal entries and even browsing the internet. Outlook also comes with several web based apps or plug-ins which make working on the software a lot easier. Apps can be used for almost everything, be it file conversion, social networking or adding extra support for email management. Every data, be it email or contacts or other related items gets automatically stored in a personal folders file or a PST file. The PST file not only comes handy for restoring Outlook when it crashes, it is also useful in transfering data from one PC to another. Now, if you are using Outlook on the Microsoft Exchange Server then the PST file will be stored on the server, which is maintained by the IT administrator assigned to your work group and if you are using Outlook as a stand alone client then the file will stored on the hard drive of your computer, in the Windows folder. If you archive or make a back-up of the PST file for the first time, then the file name for the PST files will be ‘Archive.pst’ and ‘Backup.pst’. Now, the need to recover PST arises if a PST file gets damaged or corrupted and all the data stored on the file becomes inaccessible, causing inconvenience to the user. The original PST file can be located under the Windows folder on the hard drive of the computer or can be automatically searched for using the search function. Simply access the search function of your Windows operating system, select the Files and Folder option and type *.pst on the Name bar and click on search. Retrieve the file and use the Microsoft Outlook Repair Tool or the scanpst.exe tool in order to recover PST file, which when fixed, can be used to restore Outlook to its original state. Microsoft also allows you to create your own PST files and lets you store it on any part of the hard drive or on some removable media device like a USB stick or a CD. In order to create a new PST file, open Outlook and click on the File menu. From there, access the New option and select Personal Folder File. When a Save in box opens, select the location on which you want the new PST file to be located. You can also select a name of the new PST file so that it is different in contrast to the other Personal Storage Table files. When the location and the name have been assigned, then click on the Create option, which will then give you your own PST file. In order to set a password on the file or to encrypt it, go to the Help options and follow the set of instructions given there. When the PST file is created it is stored on the Outlook Folder List, from where you can start dragging and dropping items on to the file. It is advisable that you create a back-up of the file there and then, which can be later used to recover PST file which gets damaged or corrupted. A damaged PST can also be recovered using the DataNumen Outlook Repair tool by DataNumen.