--- description: Detailed information about the file is not a personal folders file error when openning a corrupted Outlook PST file, including the error symptom, a precise explanation, a sample corrupt file and the file recovered by DataNumen Outlook Repair, as well as the references to related articles. title: The File Is not a Personal Folders File image: https://www.datanumen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/error-not-personal-folders.gif --- - - - [Home](https://www.datanumen.com/) > [Products](https://www.datanumen.com/products/) > [DataNumen Outlook Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/) > The File Is not a Personal Folders File # Detailed Information about "The File Is not a Personal Folders File" Error Share Now: - - - - - - - - ## Symptom: When opening a damaged or corrupted Outlook personal folders(PST) file with Microsoft Outlook, you see the following error message: **The file xxxx.pst is not a personal folders file.** where ‘xxxx.pst’ is name of the PST file to be opened. Below is a sample screenshot of the error message: ![not a personal folders file](https://www.datanumen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/error-not-personal-folders.gif) ## Precise Explanation: The PST file is composed of two parts, the file header, and the following data part. The file header contains the most important information about the whole file, such as the file signature, file size, compatibility, etc. If the header is damaged or corrupted, and cannot be recognized by Microsoft Outlook, then Outlook will think the whole file is not a valid PST file and report this error. You can use our product [DataNumen Outlook Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/) to repair the corrupt PST file and solve this error. ## Sample File: Sample corrupt PST file that will cause the error. [Outlook\_1.pst](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/problems/Outlook_1.pst) The file recovered by [DataNumen Outlook Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/): [Outlook\_1\_fixed.pst](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/problems/Outlook_1_fixed.pst) ### References: - [8 Ways to Prevent PST File Corruption](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair-prevent-pst-corruption/) Share Now: - - - - - - - - ![DataNumen]() Follow or like us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to get all promotions, latest news and updates on our products and company. - - - ### Featured Products - [DataNumen Outlook Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/) - [DataNumen SQL Recovery](https://www.datanumen.com/sql-recovery/) - [DataNumen Exchange Recovery](https://www.datanumen.com/exchange-recovery/) - [DataNumen Access Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/access-repair/) - [DataNumen Excel Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/excel-repair/) - [DataNumen PDF Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/pdf-repair/) - [DataNumen Word Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/word-repair/) - [DataNumen Zip Repair](https://www.datanumen.com/zip-repair/) ### [Latest news](https://www.datanumen.com/news/) - [DataNumen Outlook Drive Recovery 10.2 is released on May 9th, 2025](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-drive-recovery/) - [DataNumen Outlook Repair 10.2 is released on April 15th, 2025](https://www.datanumen.com/outlook-repair/) - [DataNumen SQL Recovery 7.3 is released on February 19th, 2025](https://www.datanumen.com/sql-recovery/) ```json {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/","url":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/","name":"The File Is not a Personal Folders File","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/error-not-personal-folders.gif","datePublished":"2019-12-23T15:36:28+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-25T02:48:19+00:00","description":"Detailed information about the file is not a personal folders file error when openning a corrupted Outlook PST file, including the error symptom, a precise explanation, a sample corrupt file and the file recovered by DataNumen Outlook Repair, as well as the references to related articles.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/error-not-personal-folders.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/error-not-personal-folders.gif","width":377,"height":119,"caption":"not a personal folders file"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/outlook-repair\/errors\/not-personal-folders\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The File Is not a Personal Folders File"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/","name":"DataNumen","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#organization","name":"DataNumen, Inc.","url":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/favicon.png","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"DataNumen, Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.datanumen.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DataNumen","https:\/\/x.com\/DataNumen","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/datanumen","https:\/\/myspace.com\/datanumen\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/datanumen\/data-recovery\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/DataNumen"]}]} ```