The main advantage of OST file is that you can work with Outlook offline, even when there is no connection with the Exchange Server. And when the connection is reestablished, the OST file gets synchronized with the Exchange Server. However, there are times when OST file can get corrupted and you are unable to work in Outlook.
You need to fix the file to get back to work. So how to fix OST file? The first thing you would do is to use ScanPST.exe (Inbox Repair tool) provided by Outlook to fix issues. But then, it is not suggested to use ScanPST tool on a corrupt OST file. Why is that so? Read on to know…
One Outlook user had issues with OST file and used scanpst.exe to scan the file. ScanPST tool found some issues with the file, but it was not capable of fixing it. So even after using scanpst.exe, the problems seem to appear in OST file. Why is this happening? This happens because apart from some IMAP configurations in Outlook 2013 and 2016, the remaining only consists of cached data. Thus, you shouldn’t repair OST file with scanpst.exe.
So what next? Well, you need to start with a fresh cache rather than trying to repair the OST file.
How to Solve OST File Issues?
To resolve issues of the OST file, just rebuild the file instead of repairing it. You need to rename the OST file to .old when Outlook is closed, and then rebuild the OST file from the server again.
- So first close Microsoft Outlook, and go to the OST file location
- OST file default location is as follows:
For Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\
You can paste this into the address bar of Explorer to open the folder location.
- Once you find the location of OST file, rename the OST file
- Now run Outlook, let it rebuild OST file
If rebuild is not a feasible option because the mailbox is large, and your internet connection is slow, then you can try using ScanPST.exe. However, as said before, ScanPST tool cannot fix severe OST file problems. Under such a situation, you can use this OST to PST converting software. It will convert the corrupt OST file to PST, and repair it safely. You don’t need any assistance to run the tool as it comes with a user-friendly interface. So you can repair corrupt OST files with ease. Moreover, it is a read-only application which will not harm the original file throughout the repair process.