A Microsoft Outlook PST file is prone to several errors that can corrupt and make it inaccessible as a result. General errors are unexpected shutdown, network vulnerabilities, large PST size and virus infection. The Microsoft Inbox Repair Tool is a built-in utility that can solve and repair corruption issues associated with Outlook Personal Folder (.pst) file. But if the damage is of high extent, the tool might fail to correct it. Thus, it is required that you should restore the lost data from the most recent backup available. If this is not feasible or you find it invalid too, commercial tools can help to Repair PST. These tools come integrated to scan the damaged PST file using efficient algorithms.

To illustrate, consider you use Microsoft Outlook for email management. You might receive the below error message when trying to open the application:

"Outlook encounters a problem while opening, starting the program in safe mode may solve the problem although some functionalities may be disabled in this mode, Start in safe mode? YES or NO?"

Clicking ''NO' to the error message hangs Outlook, however, when you click 'Yes', it gives another error and the application fails to launch.

Cause

Outlook can fail to open with similar error messages, as above, due to following reasons:

1-PST is quite large to be opened by Outlook. In Outlook 97-2002, the default size-limit of PST to increase is 2 GB. Outlook might find it problematic if file size goes beyond this value.

2-A third-party application is integrated to access Outlook data

3-PST is corrupted

Solution

To troubleshoot the existing issue, you need to follow these methods:

1-Check PST size. If it appears to be file-size issue, use Microsoft Crop utility to truncate the file. You should backup the file prior to apply the tool as it can delete some email messages and other contents.

2-Try to disable the application accessing Outlook resources and data

3-If these measures fail, the PST might be corrupted. Run Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to try isolating the corruption errors:

1-Click Start | Find (or Search)

2-Type scanpst.exe in 'Search for files or folders' named box

3-Open Inbox Repair Tool by double-clicking the file icon

4-Specify the PST file path or click Browse to locate it

5-Click Start and the repair process will start

6-Quit the tool after it finishes

If the damage is large enough that Inbox Repair Tool cannot fix it, use a third-party PST Repair Tool to repair and restore it efficiently. These are powerful tools to Repair PST and prove competent to maintain its integrity.