Category: PST Repair

Outlook cannot perform your search? Does your Outlook search function is failing to fetch any of your searched messages? You received an error message that states something like “Instant search encountered a problem while trying to display search results. Modifying your query may resolve this problem”.

No worries! This is one of the most common issues encountered by numerous Outlook clients. And, there are certain things that will help you to fix this Outlook search indexing problem. Let’s go through one by one.

1. Verify Your Outlook is Submitted for Indexing

In Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, and Office 365

Go to File menu, select Options then, click on Search. Under Sources, click on the Indexing Options button.

Check Index these location items and make sure Microsoft Outlook is listed. Click the Modify button.

Check Microsoft Outlook is enabled under Change selected locations category (In Indexed Locations dialogue box).

In older versions of Microsoft Outlook, Search Options window can be reached using below navigation paths.

In Outlook 2007: 

Tools -> Options -> Search Options (here you can select data file to index).

In Outlook 2010, 2016:

File -> Options -> Search-> Indexing Options -> Modify-> expand Microsoft Outlook (here you need to select PST file or mailbox listed under Microsoft Outlook).

If your Outlook profile is marked for indexing, then try disabling it first. Then safely close Outlook and remove it from the Task Manager running processes. At last, open Outlook and enable it in Search options.

2. Rebuild The Index

If index itself is damaged, then above technique doesn’t help you. So, you have to rebuild the index in order to solve this issue.

How to Rebuild Outlook Index?

Open Outlook, go to File menu, select Options and click Search. Click on the Indexing Options button located under the Sources section.

Choose Advanced option located next to Modify.

In the Index Setting tab, click the Rebuild button.

Say OK for the notification.

Close the window when the rebuilding process is completed.

3. Check PST File for Corruptions

It might be a corrupt or damaged PST file that is causing search indexing problems in your Outlook. Yes! When a PST file gets constantly corrupt or damaged due to any reason, then it has a direct effect on the functionality of the Outlook including indexing.

To verify this, scan your Outlook data file- PST using the ScanPST (an inbuilt Inbox Repair tool offered by MS Outlook). You can find this scanpst.exe file in the same folder as your Outlook.exe.

Steps to Run ScanPST:

Double-click on Scanpst.exe file. Use the Browse option, select your Outlook PST file, and click the Start button.

If any errors are detected, check the checkbox make a backup of the scanned file and start the Repair process.

Note: Sometimes, Inbox repair tool stops working all of a sudden. Many Outlook users are also reported that ScanPST.exe not responding during repair. This is because the PST file is severely corrupted and it is beyond repair for the inbuilt repair tool. In such cases, it is suggested to make use of a result-oriented third-party PST repair tools available online.

In case, if none of the above troubleshooting techniques helped you in fixing Outlook search (Indexing) problems then it is recommended to repair your Office application or reinstall Outlook program.

Are you having trouble keeping Outlook open?

Whether you’re using Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010 or 2007, it is important to understand that no Outlook version is perfect. Although Microsoft fixes bugs regularly and provides better features in each successive version, no Outlook user is completely free from problems.

Ever encountered a problem where you open Outlook but it closes immediately? If yes, you are in the right place because we are going to help you resolve this problem using some simple solutions.

Solution 1: Repair Microsoft Office

Your Outlook may be behaving this way, possibly due to some inherent problem with Office. This can be repaired using the Repair feature that is already available in your system.

To repair Microsoft Office, follow the steps below.

• Click on the Start button and select Settings
• Select Apps > Apps & Features
• Select Microsoft Office and click Change

Then follow the instructions in the repair wizard to repair Office. You can select Quick Repair if the severity of the problem is low. So try this first, but if it doesn’t help solve your problem, click Online Repair for a more detailed repair process.

Once the repair process is complete, restart your system and launch Outlook to check if the problem is resolved.

Solution 2: Disable add-ins

Although add-ins enhance the experience of using Outlook and provide some useful features, they can sometimes cause conflicts and errors. This problem can be resolved by disabling the add-ins.

• Open Outlook and click on File > Options
• Select Add-ins > COM Add-ins from the Manage drop-down menu
• Then click on Go
• Uncheck all the add-ins that are enabled and restart Outlook

Now if Outlook works normally, then select one add-in that was selected earlier and restart Outlook. Repeat for all the add-ins. If the error reproduces, the selected add-in is the one causing trouble and needs to be disabled.

Solution 3: Use Remo PST Repair software

If the above solutions don’t help you resolve the problem with Outlook, then it is most likely an issue with the PST file. PST file is nothing but a data file that stores all Outlook data on your computer. This file can get corrupted due to various reasons such as improper handling of Outlook, PST file exceeding size limit or bad sectors on the storage area where PST files are stored.

When this PST file is corrupted, you may face various issues like difficulty in opening Outlook (like in this case) or other error messages like ‘Outlook PST cannot be opened’ etc.

Repair Outlook opening issues using Remo Repair software

In order to repair Outlook, it is imperative that you repair the associated PST file and for this purpose, there is no better way than to use Remo Repair PST. It is a tool specialized in repairing all kinds of PST files like oversized, compressed or password-protected files.

All corruption issues from simple to complex ones can be fixed using this tool. Once the PST file is fixed, import the repaired file to Outlook and get your Outlook back to working again. Isn’t that cool? Remo Repair works with all versions of Outlook and Windows, so you don’t need to bother about compatibility too. What’s more? Download a trial version for free and check out the software.

The out of office assistant in Outlook works differently in Outlook Exchange accounts and non-exchange accounts like POP3, IMAP. In this article, let us see how to use and how to turn on the out of Office assistant in both these cases.

How to find out if you have an Exchange Account

First of all we’ve to find out what kind of Outlook account you have.

For Outlook 2007 and above, check the status bar. If it says ‘Connected to Exchange’, it means you have an exchange account.

For Outlook 2003, go to Tools menu > Email accounts > View or Change Existing Email Accounts and check the type of account you have.

After you have found the type of account you’re using, refer the appropriate section explained below to learn how to use the out of office assistant.

Turn ON Out of Office Assistant or automatic replies in Exchange account

1. Open Outlook and click on File > Info
2. Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office)
3. In the dialogue box that opens, check the box next to Send Automatic Replies
4. Select ‘Only send during this time range’ if you want automatic replies to be sent when you are out of office and set the Start and End Time
5. Type appropriate messages to send Inside the organization and Outside the organization
6. These automatic replies will be sent during specific dates set in Step 4. If that is not selected, automatic replies will continue to be sent immediately until you disable it.

Turn ON Out of Office Assistant or automatic replies in other accounts

Open Outlook and click on File > Info. In this section, if you see an Automatic Reply button, please click on it and follow the steps listed above to set it up. However, if you don’t see an Automatic Reply button, then you will have to make use of rules to send emails automatically explained below.

1. Click on Compose to create a new email
2. Enter a subject line and body of your out of office email template
3. Select File > Save As
4. Choose a name and save the created file as an Outlook template (*.oft)
5. Now that you have an out of office template set up, you are ready to create rules for the same.
6. Click on File > Manage Rules & Alerts
7. In the dialogue box, click on New Rule in the Email rules section
8. Click on ‘Apple
9.  rule on messages I receive’ and hit Next
10. Select Action as ‘reply using a specific template’ under ‘What do you want to do with this message’ Step 1
11. In Step 2, Edit the rule application, click on the underlined text for a specific template
12. Select User Templates in File System in the Look In box at the top of Select a Reply Template
13. Choose the template you created and hit Next
14. Assign a name for your template and check the box ‘TURN ON THIS RULE’ when you want to use out of office.

Using these steps, you can easily set up out of office assistant in your Outlook and send automatic replies.

Repair issues with Outlook

Although Outlook is an extremely useful tool and in most cases a reliable one, one may face issues occasionally. Outlook stopping or freezing frequently, unable to send emails or Outlook not responding when sending emails are common issues one may encounter. These issues usually happen when the PST file is corrupt and can be repaired when the file is fixed.

When you try to open one of your folders in Outlook, an error ‘Cannot expand the folder.  The set of folders cannot be opened.  The information store could not be opened’ is encountered.

You try to close and re-open Outlook but it doesn’t work. You also try to restart your system and re-open but no luck. Here in this post, we explain some solutions you can try to resolve the issue.

Potential solutions to resolve the issue

Solution 1: Remove the account in question and set it up again

Removing the affected account and setting it up again will help resolve the issue in most cases. Just follow the steps to remove the account.

1. Open-File > Account settings menu
2. Select the email account to remove
3. Click on Remove button
4. Confirm the removal by clicking on the Yes button

The steps are very similar to Outlook 2007 as well, with only a minor difference

1. Go to Tools > Account settings
2. Go to the Email tab
3. Select the email account to remove
4. Click Remove and confirm by clicking on the Yes button

Once you have removed the account, you can set it up again. To do that,

1. Select File > Add Account
2. For Outlook 365 and 2016, enter the email and click on the Connect button
3. For Outlook 2013 and 2010, enter the name, email, and password
4. Enter password if required and click Finish

Now that you are done removing your email account and setting it up again, try opening the folders. Ideally, you should be able to do it without any problems.

Solution 2: Repair PST file

If the problem still persists, it could be that your PST file is corrupted. PST files are data files that store Outlook data on your system. You will have to repair them to fix your Outlook. For this purpose, there is a handy built-in tool called Scanpst.exe.

To run the tool, search for Scanpst.exe in the Search bar. Then select your PST file and click Repair.

Note: You can find the location of your PST file within Outlook. Click on File > Account Settings > Account Settings; then select Data files tab and choose your file. Then click on Open File Location to find the location of your file.

However, the disadvantage is that Scanpst can repair minor corruptions and may have to be run several times to fix the issue. Refer Microsoft Outlook inbox repair tool not responding if the tool does not respond.

Hence, for a quicker process and for severely corrupt files, you can make use of professional Outlook repair tools. Remo Repair offers the best PST repair tool to solve corruption issues. Using the tool, all Outlook attributes such as emails, contacts, calendars, appointments can be recovered.

How Remo Repair PST works?

The software functions in a read-only manner; it extracts contents of the PST file, fixes corruption and generates a healthy file. Since the software does not work on the original file; it is completely safe after repair.

The software supports all versions of Outlook including the latest Outlook 2016. All versions of Windows including Windows 10 are compatible.

This article summarizes the causes behind the Outlook error ‘this personal folder file is already in use with this profile’ in Outlook 2010. It also suggests using manual methods and reliable Outlook repair tool to fix the problematic PST and extracts data from it.

Outlook stores all user mailbox contents within data files known as OSTs and PSTs. PST files are created by Outlook automatically when users configure their email account profiles on local computers. These files serve as the storehouse of all mailbox data such as Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Journals, etc. and they can be transferred from one computer to another to access mailbox contents on different systems.

Since they play such an essential role, the impact of any damage caused to them on Outlook can be risky. Application crashes, frequent freezes are some of the causes for PST file corruption can have on MS Outlook. And since there are a number of ways in which PST files can get damaged / corrupt, users might rarely have control over it. So, staying aware of the causes and solutions to PST file corruption is the best way to overcome troubles.

Why an Outlook 2010 PST file gets corrupt?

There are many reasons for the corruption of an Outlook PST. It can be that your system has faced a virus attack, or the software was used improperly. Other reasons may include improper system shutdown and intentional or accidental deletion of mail data.

When a corrupt Outlook is tried to open, you may get error messages. Outlook “This Personal Folders file (.pst) is already in use with this profile” is one of the common messages. Notes, contact, task, journal, email, etc. become inaccessible in all the cases of corruption. If you get any errors in an MS Outlook file, you can get back your lost data with the help of PST file repair software tools.

Resolution

Solution to repair PST file and the mentioned problem is very easy. Just follow the below steps to fix the issue.

• Close Microsoft Outlook application if it is running
• Reboot computer and run Microsoft Outlook application. Ignore “This Personal Folders file (pst) is already in use with this profile” message while restarting Microsoft Outlook
• Right-click the Personal Store Folder item and select the Close “Personal Store Folder” option. Leave the main Personal Store Folder and close all other Personal Store Folders in use. Now close Microsoft Outlook
• Start Microsoft Outlook

If sill the problem is not fixed, it may be that the path to the main Personal Store Folder is wrong or the PST file does not exist at all. To resolve the error, set the path of your PST file correctly.

Setting the path of PST file

To set path of a PST file correctly, follow these instructions:

• Find the target PST file on the disk. If you don’t know the path, you can search it using Windows option
• Note the path of the file and run MS Outlook application. Right-click the Personal Store Folder in the application
• Select Properties for Personal Folders option in the context menu
• On General tab, click on Advanced option
• In the Filename box, type the path of the target PST file
• Click OK button

When the above-mentioned steps do not help in fixing the error, then you can manage in Outlook 2010 with a PST repair tool efficiently in a safe manner. This utility scan and repair PST files created using a vast range of MS Outlook versions like Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003. You are just required to download the PST scanner, then run and follow the simple on-screen instructions to fix the issue.

PST files can get corrupted for a vast range of reasons. And when this happens you cannot access emails. You have to fix the corrupt data file in order to get access to emails, contacts, and other Outlook attributes. Once PST file is fixed, you need to save it. Here, in this article, we are going to see how to save a repaired PST file in Office 365.

Some Outlook Data File Repair tools allow you to choose the format for saving a repaired file. So along with saving a file in formats like PST, PDF, HTML, RTF, and so on, the software also gives an additional option to save data in Office 365 format. To save files in this format, certain requirements are needed.

• You should have Office 2010, 2013, or 2016 installed
• An Office 365 account with valid login credentials
• You are not allowed to export offline data to Office 365 for Domain systems
• You cannot export online mailbox data to Office 365, however offline mailbox data can be exported

If these requirements are fulfilled, then you can save repaired PST in Office 365. It’s simple; after the file is repaired, and you are about to Save it, you would be asked in which format you would like to save it. There select Office365 option. The repaired Outlook PST file will be saved in Cloud Office 365. You have to import PST in Outlook in order to access data. At times, if you don’t follow the steps properly while fixing a small issue in PST file, then there are chances of the file getting corrupt.

Under such situations, you can make use of this Outlook Repair tool to fix the issues. This PST File Repair software will repair corrupt, inaccessible PST file, not opening, be freezing Outlook, and other issues with Outlook in a safe manner. As it is a read-only tool it doesn’t work on the original file, rather it extracts data from the corrupt file, fixes the issues, and saves the data in a new healthy PST file. Thus the original file is left intact.

If you are a user of Photoshop, probably you have been enjoying the benefits of layer blend modes. The layer blend modes are one of the simple and advanced ways to change the way two or more layers’ blend or interact, with each other.

There are many advantages of using layer blend modes like you can create creative effects, using the Screen blend can brighten an underexposed image, the Multiply blend mode can darken an overexposed image and an Overlay blend will instantly give the contrast effect to an image.

You may also be familiar with the concept of merging layers together, which has many benefits to photoshop an image.

Even though the blend modes and merging layers have useful advantages, sometimes strange things may happen while trying to merge multiple layers together. You may end up with an image that looks entirely different from the image you had before merging the layers. It may be the big loss to you! So, in this guide, we’ll look at an instance of the problem, brief on why it happens, and learn an easy way to resolve it.

Issue with merging blending modes

Assume that you have a composite image of three separate photos and a few blend modes. When we look that image in the Layers panel, all the three photos should be added to your document with each image sitting on its own separate layer.

Now let’s learn how to open multiple images as layers in Photoshop…

Considering one photo at a time starting with the one at the bottom of composite image, turn off the top two layers by clicking on their visibility icons.

Now, for the image at the bottom, set the blend mode to Normal (the default one). Next, turn on the second image (the one on the middle layer) by clicking its visibility icon. Set this image also to the Normal blend mode. Now, to blend the two images together, first click on Layer 2 in the Layers panel to select it. Then, change its blend mode from Normal to Multiply. Also, lower its Opacity value down to 60%.

Then go the third image and turn it back on in the document by clicking its visibility icon. To blend this top image with the photos below it, click on Layer 3 to select it, then change its blend mode from Normal to Overlay.

You are happy with the results so far and wish to make further edits to the overall image. Before you do that, you’ll need to merge the layers together.

Let’s see if we could merge the layers or not!

Well, there are a couple of ways you could merge layers. One way would be to use Photoshop’s Merge Down command which takes the currently-selected layer and merges it with the layer directly below it. That sounds like exactly what we need, so with the top layer i.e. layer 3 selected in the Layers panel, go up to the Layer menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose Merge Down.

Now when you look at the results of merging two layers, you could see something’s not right1 The image has suddenly lost most of its contrast. It also looks much darker than it did before.

The reason for this is, even though the top two layers have in fact been merged together onto Layer 2, the Overlay blend mode is gone! The overall image is left out with only Multiply blend mode. That why the image looks so much darker!

Another way you can try to merge the top two layers together is with Photoshop’s Merge Layers command. With the top layer already selected, press and hold the Shift key and click on the middle layer. This selects both the Overlay and Multiply layers at the same time.

With both layers selected, go back up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and this time, select Merge Layers. At this time, you’ll get to see that the top two images merged together, but the third image would be completely gone.

By this, we can say that Photoshop once again merged the top two layers, but discarded both Overlay and Multiply blend modes, setting the merged layer to Normal. Due to this, the merged layer is completely blocking the image on the bottom layer from view.

Why merging blending modes in not possible?

• The very first reason is that of what blend modes in Photoshop do, or more accurately, what they don’t; blend modes don’t change the actual pixels on the layer
• The next reason is that a layer in Photoshop can have only one blend mode applied to it at any given time

The hidden solution for the problem

Well, here the problem was you were forgetting about the layer on the bottom (the one set to the Normal blend mode). It’s not just the top two layers creating the composition; it’s a combination of all three layers, which means that if you want to merge the result, you’ll have to merge all three layers i.e. the one set to Overlay, the one set to Multiply, and the one set to Normal.

To simply merge the result, Photoshop includes a special trick. First, select the top layer in the Layers panel. Press and hold your Shift, Alt, and Ctrl (Win)/ Shift, Option and Command(Mac) keys on your keyboard and press the letter E.

Doing so will create one more new layer called Layer 4.

Now, to get a better sense of what just happened, press and hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and click on Layer 4’s visibility icon. This keeps Layer 4 visible but turns off all the other layers in the document

Now, it’s a good idea to rename the top layer. To do that, double-click on the name “Layer 4” to highlight it, then type in “Merged” as the new layer name. To accept the name change, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) on the keyboard.

There we go! This how we merge multiple layers and set them to different blend modes in Photoshop!

“If at all, in the process of merging layers if something goes wrong and you miss any layers of your PSD file, then you can make use of Remo Repair PST Software and recover PSD layers easily.”