As an Outlook user, you may already be familiar with PST files and how important they are for Outlook. For those who are new to PST files, they are local data files containing all Outlook information like emails, contacts, calendars etc. These files are extremely essential for Outlook to function.
Any damage or corruption to these PST files can affect the performance of Outlook and hence they need to be repaired immediately should you encounter any issue. In order to repair these PST files, you can make use of a built-in tool called Scanpst, provided by Microsoft. This is a simple yet robust tool to repair minor corruptions in your PST files and help to resolve many Outlook problems.
Scanpst not responding after clicking on Repair
Like all tools out there, Scanpst does have some downsides to it. Sometimes, when you click on the Repair button in Scanpst, it may not respond or may get stuck on the repair screen. Why does this happen? Let’s look at the reasons and corresponding solutions in this article.
Case 1: Fix Oversized PST file
PST files have a copy of every email, every attachment and basically everything in your Outlook. So over time, this file can grow very large if not maintained. This large file can make Outlook slow or cause other issues. And when Scanpst tries to repair a large PST file, it may get stuck and cause the ‘Not responding’ error. In order to fix this issue, PST files can be compacted using the steps below.
To compact a PST file,
- First of all, delete Outlook items you don’t need anymore and also empty the Deleted Items folder
- Click File > Account Settings > Account Settings
- Go to the Data files tab and select the data file that you wish to compact
- Click Settings > Advanced Tab > Outlook Data file settings
- In the dialogue box that opens, click Compact Now
Now the size of the PST file will be reduced and you should be able to run Scanpst on it to resolve corruption issues. However, if this doesn’t help, proceed to the next step.
Case 2: Repair PST files using Remo Repair Outlook (PST)
If compacting the PST file doesn’t help resolve your issue, the error ‘Scanpst not responding during repair’ is probably because your PST file is severely corrupt and Scanpst is unable to handle it. In such cases, you can make use of professional PST repair tools like Remo Repair PST. This PST repair software can resolve all kinds of issues such as PST corruption due to size issues, bad sectors on the storage device, virus attacks or various other cases. It can work with oversized or compressed PST’s, so you will have no limitation regarding the PST file being used.
The software is designed to work with all versions of Outlook and all versions of Windows, so you need not worry about compatibility issues. You can enjoy a free trial of Remo Repair PST, so download today and check it out!