How to Repair OST File in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003?

Approved By Aswin Vijayan

Published On December 27th, 2022

Reading Time 5 Minutes Reading

OST is an offline folder file in Microsoft Outlook. If Outlook gets disconnect from the Exchange server, OST allows users to continue the work in Microsoft Outlook. Once the connection is reestablished, whatever work the user has done in offline mode, it gets automatically synchronized with its mailbox on the Exchange Server. The OST file is a duplicate copy of the mailbox Exchange Server and is stored on the hard drive of the machine. In any case, if the mailbox gets damaged or corrupted then it will not affect Offline Storage Table. Sometimes an error is encountered while accessing the OST file in Outlook. Sometimes users come across an issue and find that few of their items are either removed or missing from the Outlook OST file. It generally happens because of Offline Storage Table file corruption. In the given blog we will discuss how to repair OST file in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003 which gets corrupted.

Download 100% Secure OST Recovery Tool

Causes for Corruption In OST File

There are a number of reasons for the Offline OST file to be damaged, and the reason behind this could be related to software and hardware issues. The corruption issues are based on two cases i.e. hardware and software issues:

Hardware Causes

Power Failure: If a power failure occurs at the particular point of time when the user is accessing or synchronizing the OST files, then most of the time, the Exchange Server OST files get corrupt.

Crashed Data Storage Device: If the Offline folder file is saved in the Hard Disk and the data storage sector becomes bad then, OST files may get corrupted.

The problem in networking device: As we all know that the Offline storage table files are synchronized with the Exchange Server with the help of a network connection. If the networking device undergoes a failure, then most of the time. The Outlook OST file gets corrupted.

Software Issues

Virus and Other Malicious Software: Viruses or Infected Trojans may make the OST file corrupt or damaged and are also capable of making them inaccessible.

Synchronization Error: The synchronization problem between the offline folders and the Server may also lead to the corruption of Outlook OST file.

Abnormal Outlook Termination: Every user should follow proper steps to exit from Microsoft Outlook. To do so, one should save all the changes made in the Offline storage table before closing the Outlook. However, if Microsoft Outlook shut down abnormally then this may affect the proper functioning of the OST file.

Incorrect File System Recovery: This could also cause Outlook OST file corruption problem when the file system is broken.

Consequences of Outlook OST File Corruption

If any of the above-stated issues cause the Outlook OST files to be corrupted, then both, the Outlook profile and Exchange account associated with the particular Outlook OST file will become inaccessible and the following errors may appear on the screen:

“Unable to expand the Offline OST folder. This set of folders could not be opened. Errors have been detected in the .ost file. Users are required to exit from all mail-enabled applications, and then use Inbox Repair Tool to retrieve OST file data in Outlook 2016.”

“Tackle large numbers of conflict items.”

How to Repair OST File in Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003?

In Microsoft Outlook 2007 and 2003, OST file can be repaired with the help of below-given steps:

The path to Find SCANOST Utility:

32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12
64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12

After the executable file for SCANOST.EXE is found, run the tool and perform all the steps repair corrupt Outlook OST file in Outlook.

How to Repair OST File in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010?

As we have read above the Scanost.exe tool is used in earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook to verify the integrity of the data that is synchronized. Users can still run the Scanpst.exe which is the inbox repair tool on the OST file to repair the internal data structures because they are similar for both, the data files and the Offline storage files.

Limitations

These inbox repair tools does not prove reliable to repair OST file in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003. The inbox repair tool Scanpst.exe only repairs the header section of the file. But if the user’s file is highly corrupted then the inbox repair tool fails to recover highly corrupted OST File.

Best Solution to Repair OST File of Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013

When users only have an OST file and a scanpst.exe utility and the issue still persists, then the Microsoft Outlook OST file might be highly corrupted. As we have discussed above that the Outlook inbox repair tool can only repair the header section of the OST file. So, in that case, users can opt for a third-party tool. “SysTools OST Recovery” to easily Repair and Retrieve Data from Outlook OST File with this tool.

Features

This Tool Supports Hard Deleted Outlook OST Email Recovery.
It can Repair OST File in Outlook with Minor as well as Major Damage.
There is No File Size Limitation in This Tool.
It is Capable of Restoring and Recovering OST File to Office 365.
This Tool can Also Recover Password Protected Outlook OST File.

Conclusion

In Microsoft Outlook versions such as 2003 and 2007, repair OST file was easy because of OST Integrity Checker tool; whereas, in newer versions such as 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 this OST integrity tool is absent and hence it’s not easy to retrieve data from OST file in Outlook. Therefore, users need to put an extra effort to repair offline storage File. The above-discussed methods is a reliable solution to repair OST file in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2003.