The Inbox Repair Tool is your first-aid-kit when it comes down to corruptions in your Outlook’s data storage file (pst-file). A common need for running this tool is when Outlook refuses to load or is not willing to open a pst-file and displays an error similar to; Additional often seen variants are; Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened.

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Errors have been detected in the file. Errors have been detected in the file. The file is not an Outlook data file (.pst).

In other cases, you might get recommended to use this tool when you are suffering from some specific symptoms such as (but not limited to), Outlook crashing upon displaying a folder or writing data to it, mspst.dll errors in the, import/export not completing, several send/receive errors or view settings not being maintained. This guide helps you locate the Inbox Repair Tool for your version of Outlook, walks you through the repair process and gives recommendations what to do to when the Inbox Repair Tool fails and how to prevent pst-file corruptions from happening in the future. Locating scanpst.exe for your Outlook version The location of scanpst.exe depends on your version of Outlook and whether or not you are using a 64-bit version of Windows. Note: When the repair process starts, it could appear that it will hang directly (Not Responding in Title Bar).

In reality, it is not hanging but making a copy of your pst-file in the background or already has started the repair process. Depending on the size of your pst-file and the speed of your hard disk, this can take a while. If it still hangs after 10 minutes (no hard disk activity either) and still hasn’t begun the actual repair process, you might want to abort the scanpst.exe process via Task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC – select tab Processes). Then, make a copy of your pst-file manually and restart the Repair process but this time with the Backup option disabled. If it still fails then, continue to the section.

Step 4: Repair completed If everything goes correctly, you’ll get the “Repair complete” dialog after some time. You can then press OK to close it and start Outlook again. If everything works now; you’re done but you might want to read the section anyway;). Repair process failed If the repair process fails, try running it again. If it fails repeatedly, but you can still access the file in Outlook, you can create a new pst-file in Outlook and copy over its contents.

Fortunately, Microsoft offers several tools that can be used to correct the most common problems: Some are built right into Windows 10, and others you download from the Microsoft site.

For step-by-step instructions see; If you can no longer access the pst-file in Outlook and the pst-file is beyond repair for the Inbox Repair Tool, you’ll have to or use a. An exception can exist if you are using an ANSI formatted pst-file and the file is. Popular data recovery tools for Outlook are;. (discount code: DNC-PUXB-HT ). Use their trial versions first to determine if they can recover more data from your pst-file than scanpst.exe. Other issues with pst-files There can be several other issues with pst-files which you can run into.

The most common are posted below together with their solution. Repairing a pst-file around 1.8GB in size If your pst-file is around 1.8GB in size and Outlook refuses to open it or to write to it then it is quite likely that you are using an ANSI formatted pst-file. This file format was the default (and only) file format in in Outlook 2002/XP and previous and has a file size limit of around 1.8GB. While the new pst-file format (Unicode) in Outlook 2003 and later versions of Outlook no longer have this limit, the limit still exists if you are using an older pst-file.

If you can still open the pst-file in Outlook, then it is recommended to copy the contents to a new Unicode pst-file. If you can no longer open the file in Outlook, then you must use the pst2gb tool to truncate the pst-file first. More info: CRC errors When you get CRC errors upon trying to copy the pst-file in Explorer or open it in Outlook, you usually have a failing hard disk which should be dealt with immediately. For instructions see; Pst-file in use When you get a pst-file in use error, it means that Outlook is still running or another application which integrates itself with Outlook or depends on the outlook.exe process is still running. A quick fix might be to simply restart your computer.

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To troubleshoot this issue further see;. Inbox Repair Tool does not recognize the file In this case you have either selected a file which isn’t a pst-file or a file that is too badly damaged for scanpst.exe to repair. In case of the last, you can try a. However, if the file is smaller than 265KB then it means that the file is empty and nothing is in there to recover.

Lost and Found folder The Lost and Found folder is created during a repair when items have been found for which it was impossible to determine their original folder or when the folder structure within the pst-file got lost completely. When such a corruption in a pst-file exists, it is highly recommended to start with a new pst-file and copy over the recovered contents to that pst-file. This process is similar as in; Prevent pst-file corruptions Preventing is better than repairing of course. While there have been a lot of precautions built into Outlook to prevent pst-file corruptions, there are a couple of common causes which may result in corruptions in the pst-file;.

Computer/Outlook crashes If your computer crashes while Outlook was running or even worse, writing data to your pst-file, running scanpst.exe afterwards is highly recommended. Always try to find the root cause of your computer crashes and when you cannot directly find the cause (actually, making backups frequently is always recommended). Outlook not closing properly If Outlook doesn’t close properly (the outlook.exe process continues to run after you close Outlook), then Outlook will be closed forcefully when shutting down your PC which is similar to Outlook crashing. To troubleshoot see;.

Faulty add-ins which write corrupted data While add-ins are great to extend the functionality of Outlook, they might not all work as expected. If corruptions continue to occur in your pst-file, it might be good to review your installed add-ins and see if you still need them or if an update is available. You might be even using some without knowing. Disable them all and see if the corruptions return. If not, test them one-by-one to find the culprit.

For more info see;. Storing your pst-file on a network share Pst-files are designed to work from a local hard drive.

Using pst-files from a network share is and could lead to poor performance, data corruption or even data loss. If your My Documents folder is redirected to a network share, you might be it. Storing your pst-file in Cloud Storage locations like OneDrive and DropBox Connecting to pst-file which are within your OneDrive or DropBox folder or any other Cloud Storage provider isn’t supported either. This results in synching conflicts as Outlook has a lock on pst-files so OneDrive can’t complete the sync. When you want your data to sync to the Cloud, store them within an mailbox (free). For more info see: and: Additional screenshots of error messages Below you’ll find several screenshots of errors which Outlook might display when there is an issue with your pst-file.