What is a PST Outlook file and What you NEED to know? at Flashlights

What is a PST Outlook file and What you NEED to know?

A .The pst file is the file that contains almost all your Outlook information. This is not only your email, but contacts, the tasks list, all of your calendar information and your notes. Chances are you depend on your Outlook program working, this is why it is so important to know how to back it up and repair it. Imagine how frustrated you would be if you lost all this critical date just like that. Read this article to learn how to repair pst file.

In Outlook all your folders, e-mails and contact information is kept in one single file .pst file. For many different reasons the PST file can become corrupt, often times larger pst files seem to be at greater risk. If this happens, don’t panic. There are several ways you can repair the .pst file.

The first thing you should do is to make a backup of the .pst file. Don’t wait until the file crashes, do it now. If your data is very important to you then you should consider backing up your PST weekly, if it is more for casual use then consider doing it once a month or getting an online backup program like the one linked in this article. Using Windows Explorer, simply drag a copy from your Outlook folder to a safe place, preferably offline somewhere, such as a flash drive. Better yet check out this Online Vista Back article.Backing up your data online is a great choice. Your .pst file is located in drive:Documents and SettingsuserLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook. If your .pst file becomes corrupt, you can use Data file Management on the file menu to remove and replace the .pst file with the backup, or simply drag the backup file back into place. Outlook will need to be closed to drag the file into place or back it up.

But if you need to know how to repair pst file, the first thing to try is the Inbox Repair Tool. The name of the free built in repair tool is called scanpst.exe and can be found by doing a search or using Windows Explorer and going to a location similar to drive:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemMapiLocaleID and titled scanpst.exe.exe. Note that LocaleID is specific to your computer and will be a number. Browse there from your Start, Run menu and click OK. Even if you have a backup, choose the option to make a backup before repairing.

If this built in tool is able to make the repair then it will let you know that it is done. If not, you will need to use your backup copy or download a commercial PST repair tool. Many of these are very good, and a lot of them are try before you buy, so you can make sure that they work before you purchase them. The main part of this article is to get you to backup your PST file and all your important documents, we do also cover some free pst repair methods as well.