Pssst... Got a Problem with Outlook?
Much as I like to bash Microsoft along with everyone else, I have to say that until recently I have not had a problem with Outlook. It's pretty much a workhorse email client/calendar application that works well and serves as a standard for software of its kind. The others in the email client/calendar category are more or less also-rans.
Yesterday, however, my faith was shaken.
Outlook simply failed to launch, the explanation being that my .pst file was corrupt.
To understand how fatal that problem is, you have to know that Outlook stores all your personal data in this .pst file, which is a data table - not a folder of items, but a real database type storage file. So your contacts, your saved email messages, your calendar info - all of it is here. And if it "goes bad" you're in a world of hurt.
What to do? The error message kindly informed me that I could run the "scanpst.exe" file, or "Inbox Repair Tool," which would find and fix errors in the file. A little research also let me know that I might have to run the chkdsk command, which will check for disk integrity on your hard disk.
Now the problem is, where on earth are these files located?
First, I wanted to find the .pst file. The location of the file depends on the version of Windows you're running. For Windows 7, my OS, the path is: C/Users/(your name)/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook. Yeah, I'd figure that out without help! I thought that if I right clicked on this file, a contextual menu might help, and indeed, an option for scanpst.exe was available, but it was my virus protection software version. Running this proved to be of no help.
Now I had to find the system version of scanpst.exe.
Turns out this was also located in a hard-to-find spot: C/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office12. The location of this file will depend in this case on which version of Office you're running. Having found this executable file, I could now run it. It will scan your file, create a backup, and attempt to make the needed repairs to the corrupt .pst file.
What I really learned from this was that it's very helpful to periodically make a backup copy of your .pst file, which can then be invoked should anything go wrong with your current version. Granted, you might lose some data - but at least you will be able to run your all-important email client. (To do this, you will have to rename your backup - which will be called Outlook.bak, and remove the current version, or at least, rename it. Programmers will typically rename using a convention like OutlookOLD.pst.)
There are also a number of commercial products which you can purchase or download to help resolve a .pst error.
Yesterday, however, my faith was shaken.
Outlook simply failed to launch, the explanation being that my .pst file was corrupt.
To understand how fatal that problem is, you have to know that Outlook stores all your personal data in this .pst file, which is a data table - not a folder of items, but a real database type storage file. So your contacts, your saved email messages, your calendar info - all of it is here. And if it "goes bad" you're in a world of hurt.
What to do? The error message kindly informed me that I could run the "scanpst.exe" file, or "Inbox Repair Tool," which would find and fix errors in the file. A little research also let me know that I might have to run the chkdsk command, which will check for disk integrity on your hard disk.
Now the problem is, where on earth are these files located?
First, I wanted to find the .pst file. The location of the file depends on the version of Windows you're running. For Windows 7, my OS, the path is: C/Users/(your name)/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook. Yeah, I'd figure that out without help! I thought that if I right clicked on this file, a contextual menu might help, and indeed, an option for scanpst.exe was available, but it was my virus protection software version. Running this proved to be of no help.
Now I had to find the system version of scanpst.exe.
Turns out this was also located in a hard-to-find spot: C/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office12. The location of this file will depend in this case on which version of Office you're running. Having found this executable file, I could now run it. It will scan your file, create a backup, and attempt to make the needed repairs to the corrupt .pst file.
What I really learned from this was that it's very helpful to periodically make a backup copy of your .pst file, which can then be invoked should anything go wrong with your current version. Granted, you might lose some data - but at least you will be able to run your all-important email client. (To do this, you will have to rename your backup - which will be called Outlook.bak, and remove the current version, or at least, rename it. Programmers will typically rename using a convention like OutlookOLD.pst.)
There are also a number of commercial products which you can purchase or download to help resolve a .pst error.
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