Guides to Fix a Damaged Outlook Personal Folder PST File [2025]

Summary: How about your Outlook Personal Folder PST file contains important emails, contacts, calendar events, etc, and becomes inaccessible suddenly? Scary know? It can lead to sudden crashes, error messages, or missing folders. Well, many users are juggling between platforms to get it fixed. So, this blog will guide you to the right solution to fix corrupt Outlook Personal Folder PST file. You can try some troubleshooting tips; however, for recovery without data loss, prefer professional Outlook Recovery Software. Let us explore the details! Download Now   Purchase Now

Why is Outlook Personal Folder PST Damaged?

Outlook PST (Personal Storage Table) files are a crucial part of MS Outlook users. Whether you need to backup, archive, or share Outlook data, PST works. It is competent to store emails, contacts, calendars, and more. However, storing this huge data can be large in size and ultimately may corrupt. Besides large size, there are other reasons as well, like abrupt shutdowns, malware, or hardware failures.

When PST files are corrupt or damaged, you may face various inconveniences. It’s because there is a risk of Outlook crashing or displaying error messages. In this particular case, Outlook shows a message- ‘The file is not a personal folders file.’ Therefore, you must recognize the early signs of corruption. Want to know how?

Symptoms of PST File Corruption

To fix corrupt Outlook Personal Folder PST file, it is important to recognize the problem. Here are the early symptoms:

• Your Outlook’s performance may degrade and slow down.
• Often, this results in missing mailbox emails.
• Also, a corrupt PST file does not let you access mailbox folders.
• Or you may get repeated crash errors while accessing Outlook.

So, how would you repair Outlook personal folders PST? We will discuss the most effective troubleshooting tips further.

Preventive Measures to Avoid PST Corruption

You can follow these preventive measures to prevent the situation to repair PST file:

• Keep PST file size under control (below 10 GB ideally).
• Make sure you always exit Outlook properly.
• Avoid storing PST files on network drives.
• Also, it’s important to schedule periodic backups.
• Use updated antivirus and keep your system clean.

How do I Fix Corrupt Outlook Personal Folder PST File?

In this section, we will point out all possible solutions to repair corrupt PST files. But you need to follow some prerequisites.

Preliminary Checks Before Repair

Before you attempt any of the repair methods, take care of these initial steps to prevent data loss:

• Backup the damaged PST file to avoid further data loss.
• Close Outlook completely to prevent file conflicts during repair.
• Ensure you have sufficient disk space on the drive where Outlook and the PST file are stored.

Basic: Outlook Data File Troubleshooting Steps

If you didn’t recognize PST file corruption, try these basic troubleshooting tips:

• Restart Outlook and Your System: Sometimes, a simple restart often resolves temporary glitches or conflicts.
• Additionally, check for Windows and Office Updates. Sometimes, using an outdated version can also cause issues.
• Run Outlook in Safe Mode: (Press Windows + R > type outlook.exe /safe > hit Enter.) To see if any faulty add-ins are causing the issue. Later, disable heavy add-ins if found.
• Try to create a new Outlook Profile: Open Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles > Add.

However, if PST is actually corrupt, none of this would work. Let us proceed to the real solutions.

Method 1: Use ScanPST.exe Tool (Inbox Repair Tool)

Microsoft provides an in-built repair tool called ScanPST.exe. Many may know this by the name Inbox Repair Tool. Here is how to use it and repair PST file:

1. Locate ScanPST.exe tool: Usually, this tool is found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX\.
2. Now, run the tool and browse your damaged PST file.
3. Click on ‘Start’ to begin scanning.
4. If errors are found, click on ‘Repair’.
5. Once completed, open Outlook to check the file.

Note: When ScanPST.exe repairs a corrupt PST file, it creates a .bak backup file. To restore your PST data, use this file.

How to Use .bak File?

1. Locate the .bak file in the same folder as the original PST.
2. Next, rename the file extension from .bak to .pst.
3. Open Outlook > File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File.
4. Browse the renamed file and access your data.

Limitations:

• Cannot repair severely corrupted PST files.
• Often fails to recover deleted or lost items.
• May truncate oversized files or skip unrecoverable data.

Method 2: Repair Outlook personal folders PST Without ScanPST

If somehow you cannot access or use ScanPST, go for the best professional solution. Aryson Outlook Recovery Software is highly recommended for this purpose. It facilitates maximum data recovery with minimal effort. Even if your PST file is severely corrupt, the tool has Advanced and Deep recovery modes.

Follow the steps below to fix Outlook PST file corruption:

1. Download and install the Outlook PST Repair Tool.
2. Run the software and click on Open to upload damaged PSTs.
3. Select a scanning mode: Standard, Advanced, or Deep.
4. Next, preview recoverable data in a structured view.
5. Choose export format PST, EML, MSG, etc to restore data.
6. Save the repaired file to the desired location.

What Makes a Professional Tool Better?

What manual cannot, the professional software does. Such as:

• Recovers data from oversized and encrypted PST files, too.
• Supports repairing PST files from all Outlook versions- ANSI and UNICODE.
• Recover lost or deleted emails from inaccessible PST files with our powerful recovery solution.
• Handle all types of PST file corruption, no matter what the cause is.
• The user-friendly interface of the tool enables quick and easy recovery.
• Allows saving PST data to new PST, MSG, EML, HTML, etc.

Conclusion

Fixing a damaged PST file is critical to regaining access to essential Outlook data. The manual tools, like ScanPST.exe, can help with minor issues. However, for serious corruption and business-critical data, the Outlook PST Repair Tool offers a secure and complete solution. It will help you repair Outlook personal folders PST in no time and also preserve data integrity. Also, make sure you maintain a regular backup and preventive care to avoid such situations in the future.

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