Even though Microsoft Outlook is widely used by individuals and organizations for managing their email accounts, from time to time, the PST or OST files in Outlook become damaged or corrupted, making it difficult for users to work on Outlook properly. Microsoft has offered the scanpst.exe tool that allows users to fix the files. Lets find out how to locate and use the utility.
Microsoft’s Outlook email management client is an easy-to-use software which allows users to manage a single or multiple email accounts from one single interface. All the users have to do is link their web based email accounts with the client and everything falls into place by it self. Thats how easy it is. Outlook is most used by organizations that are looking to regulate the flow of email in their day-to-day operations. Coupled with a server, such as the Microsoft Exchange Server or SharePoint server, the Outlook client is turned into a powerful tool for managing the exchange of emails. The servers help in not only storing the information, they also help in Outlook recovery. However, Outlook is also used by individuals as a standalone client for home use. This means that the client will run independent of a server, on the local computer. Now, when everything seems to be going fine, an unprecedented event, such as the Outlook client crashing or the corruption of OST files, can disrupt the whole process. An Outlook OST file stores all the data that is handled by the users for offline use. The data which the OST file can be used to store is email attachments, contacts, calenders, notes and journal entries. Therefore, when an OST file gets damaged, the file stops running the way it should, making all the information stored inside it, inaccessible. In order to fix the OST file, Microsoft has provided the Outlook Repair Tool for Outlook recovery. The Outlook Repair Tool is designed to perform a detailed scan of the damaged OST file and repair it if necessary. Problems in OST files arise when the Outlook client is not shut down properly or the users have made some error in copying the OST file from one location to another. A long and continuous usage of the Outlook file can also damage it. A memory restriction imposed by Microsoft does not allow the OST files to expand beyond 2 GB. This also damages the OST file. The Outlook Repair tool, which is also known as the ‘scanost.exe’ tool, comes in-built with the Outlook client from Microsoft. Locating the tool is fairly simple. All the users have to do is click on the ‘Start’ menu and select the find option. In the proper search bar type the following : ‘drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\LocaleID\scanost.exe.’, after selecting the ‘File and Folders’ option. When users locate the tool, they need to type in the name of the OST file that needs to be repaired or they can manually select the file by using the file browsing options. Once the file is selected, users need to first make a copy of the OST file before starting the repair function. The tool will start with performing a scan of the damaged file, in order to find out how and why it got corrupted. Outlook Repair Tool also provides a detailed report of the scan. After the scan is completed, users have the option of continuing with the repair or quiting the application. Apart from using the Microsoft tool, users can also opt for the DataNumen Outlook Repair or DataNumen Exchange Recovery tool from DataNumen for Outlook recovery.