Troubleshoot data files

A Personal Folders file (.pst) can be accessed by only one user or program at a time.
If you need to access any data file that is stored on a network share or on another computer, close any program that might be using that file and then try again.
You can open a .pst file from a shared network folder, but you must have read/write permissions to do so, and only one user at a time may do so.
A data file created in the new Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) format cannot be opened in an earlier version of Outlook. This type supports multilingual Unicode data and offers greater storage capacity for items and folders, however, it is not compatible with earlier versions of Outlook. If you need to open your Personal Folders file (.pst) in an earlier version of Outlook, you should use data files of type Microsoft Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders file (.pst).
The .pst data file does not support read-only media.

On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Outlook Data File.
Click the .pst file you want, and then click OK.
The name of the folder associated with the data file appears in the Folder List. To view the Folder List, from the Go menu, click Folder List. By default, the folder is called Personal Folders.
Open the folder containing the backup items and drag the items you want to the folder you want.
To close the backup folder, right-click it, and then click Close folder name on the shortcut menu.

Data files stored on your computer hard disk, such as Offline Folder files (.ost) and Personal Folder files (.pst) are designed differently than the server mailbox. The size of the data file on your computer will be larger than the reported mailbox size.

You need to compact the file. This might take several minutes.

On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click Mail Setup, and then click Data Files.
Click the data file that you want to compact, and then click Settings.
Click Compact Now.

Locate the file.

Show How?

On the File menu, click Data File Management.
Select the file you want, and then click Open Folder.

If the file you want is not in the list, at some time you saved it to a location other than the default location. Your data file has a .pst file extension.

You can search for the file.

Show How?

Show Windows XP

Click Start, click Search, and then click All Files and Folders.
In the All or part of the file name box, type all or part of the file name you want to find.
In the Look in list, click the drive, folder, or network you want to search.
Click Search.

Show Windows 2000

Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
In the Search for files or folders named box, type all or part of the file name you want to find, or use asterisks (for example, *.pst).
In the Look in list, click the drive, folder, or network you want to search.
Click Search Now.

In Office Outlook 2003, the format of the offline folder file and the data file used as the delivery location need to match. To resolve this issue, you can specify a Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode as the default delivery location for items or disable the use of offline folders.

Show Change the default delivery location for items to a Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode

Show Identify an existing Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode

On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click Mail Setup, and then click Data Files.
Click the data file whose format you want to check, and then click Settings.
Check the Format field to see if it contains the string Personal Folders file or Personal Folders file (97-2002). The string Personal Folders file indicates the new format that supports Unicode data and offers greater storage capacity for items and folders.

Show Create a Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode

On the File menu, point to New, and then click Outlook Data File.
Click OK to create a Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) that offers greater storage capacity for items and folders and supports multilingual Unicode data.
In the File name box, type a name for the file, or leave the default, and then click OK.
In the Name box, type a display name for the .pst folder, or leave the default.
Select any other options you want, and then click OK.
The name of the folder associated with the data file appears in the Folder List. By default, the folder is called Personal Folders.

and

Show Specify the Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode as the default delivery location for items

On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
Click View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
In the Deliver new e-mail to the following location list, select the Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports Unicode where you want the new messages delivered.
Click Finish.
Quit and restart Microsoft Outlook.

Show Disable the use of Offline Folders

This feature requires you to be using a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account.

Manually synchronize your Offline Folder file (.ost) to copy new items from the offline folders to the server folders.
How?
Do one of the following:
- To synchronize the selected folder, click the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click This Folder.
- To synchronize all of your folders that are set up for offline use, click the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click Send/Receive All.
- To synchronize a Send/Receive group of folders, click the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click the name of the Send/Receive group.
On the Tools menu, click E-Mail Accounts, click View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
In the list, click Microsoft Exchange Server, and then click Change.
Click More Settings.
Click the Advanced tab, and then click Offline Folder File Settings.
Click Disable Offline Use.
When you setup working offline, if you specified Outlook to prompt you whether to work online or offline, you should change setting so you are no longer prompted.
How?
1. On the Tools menu, click E-mail accounts, select View or change existing e-mail accounts, click Next, select Microsoft Exchange Server, and then click Change.
2. Click More Settings, then click the General tab.
3. Under When starting, select Automatically detect connection state.

Notes

Cached Exchange Mode uses an .ost file. If you want to turn off the feature, use the steps for turning on or off Cached Exchange Mode instead of disabling the .ost file.
To restore the .ost, right-click Inbox, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. Click the Synchronization tab, and then under This folder is available, click When offline or online.
To permanently remove the .ost file from your computer, you must delete it.

When you receive this error message, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. Scanpst.exe scans only the .pst or.ost file, making sure that the file structure is intact. It doesn't scan your mailbox on the Microsoft Exchange server.

If you do not share messages and items with people who use Microsoft Outlook on computers that run in other languages, you can run Outlook in Unicode or non-Unicode mode against Microsoft Exchange Server. A disadvantage of running in non-Unicode mode is that the offline folder file used for the profile will be created in the format that does not offer greater storage capacity for items and folders. Therefore, if size limit of the offline folder file is a concern for you, then you should run Outlook in Unicode mode on the Exchange server. To switch to Unicode mode, contact your administrator.

However, if you work in a multinational organization or share messages and items with people who use Outlook on systems that run in other languages, Outlook should run in Unicode mode on the Exchange server. This will also ensure that Unicode-capable .pst files are used for the profile that have the capability to store multilingual Unicode data. To switch to Unicode mode, contact your administrator.

When Outlook runs in non-Unicode mode on the Exchange server, the code page-based system is used for character mapping. In code page-based system, a character entered in one language may not map to the same character in another language and therefore, if Outlook runs in non-Unicode mode on the Exchange server, you are likely to see incorrect characters, including question marks. Additional information on scripts and code pages is available in Outlook Help.

For example, consider two people— one is running the English version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Latin code page and the second person is running the Japanese version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Japanese code page. The second person creates a meeting request in the Japanese version of Outlook 2002 and sends it to first person. When the person using the English version of Outlook 2002 opens the meeting request, the code points of the Japanese code page are mapped to unexpected or nonexistent characters in the Latin script, and the resulting text is unintelligible. Therefore, in multilingual environments, it is recommended that Outlook runs in Unicode mode on the Exchange server.

Note The body of Outlook items has been Unicode since Outlook 2000, and the body can be read irrespective of the language in which the item was created. However, Outlook data— such as To and Subject lines of messages, ContactName and BusinessTelephoneNumber properties of contact items— will be limited to characters defined by your code page if Outlook runs in non-Unicode against an Exchange server.