Effective steps to repair Outlook Data File (PST) in Outlook 2013 using Inbox Repair Tool

E-mails are the most protected & trustworthy application used for message passing in IT & Business world. Although there are different email clients existing in the market but most commonly used application is Outlook as it provides us good features like social network connectivity, attachment reminder & many more. Every outlook user must be aware that their account information like e-mails, tasks, journals, calendars etc is saved in a PST file. But what if your PST file got damaged?

There are various reasons of PST File Corruption:

• Power Failure
• Virus Attack
• Improper System Shut Down
• Direct log out from Outlook
• PST File Size Exceeds

When PST files got damaged than you may lose your fundamental information. To diagnose the trouble, Microsoft provides a free utility named as scanpst.exe. There is no need to install this tool individually because when you install Outlook 2013, it automatically get install with it. This tool sort out the problem by read-through the data file structure & in case if there is any error occur in data file structure, scanpst.exe tool will reform them & rebuild the headers for outlook.

Steps to Repair Outlook data files (.ost & .pst)

• Close your Outlook Application.
• Open the drive in using Windows Explorer addressed as drive: \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15 folder.

Info: - Program Files (x86) is a substitute for user of 64-bit version of office or a 32-bit version of Windows

1. Now, open Scanpst.exe and tap two times on it.
2. After tapping a text box appears asking for name of file you want to scan. Enter the name of the Outlook Data File (.pst) in the text box & start Browsing.
3. For specification of scan log options tap on Options & select appropriate option.
4. Hit Start.
5. Check whether errors are found or not, then start the repair process to fix the errors.

A backup file is created during the repair process. To change the default name or location of backup file which is created during repair process, use following steps:-

• Enter name of backup file box
• Enter a new name
• Click on Browse & select the file

6. Click Repair.

7. for proceeding further Start Outlook application first.

8. Now open the profile associated wit your Outlook data file that you are trying to repair.

9. Press Ctrl+6 to open the folder list view in the Folder Pane.

      

       Now, Check for your 'recovered personal folders' in the folder pane. This folder contains your 'default outlook folders' or a 'lost & found folder'. You will find your recovered folders are usually empty; actually it is a rebuilt .pst file. Location of recovered items is 'Lost and Found folder'. To drag the items in the Lost & Find folder, create a new .pst file and after completing the moving items process, remove the Recovered Personal Folders (.pst) file including lost & found folder.

If Inbox Repair tool get failed to repair data:

May be you are not aware that by default, Inbox repair tool creates a .pst file with same name but the file extension is different. File extension is .bak & storage location for .bak file is same as the location of original PST file. In case, Inbox Repair tool failed to recover items then you can recover them from the .bak file. To recover that data open your original PST file and follow the few steps:-

• Firstly make a copy of .bak file
• Entitle the file name with a .pst extension e.g. (bak.pst).
• Proceed & Import the bak.pst file
• Move unrecovered items to the new .pst file created by you.
• A copy of the log file is saved to the same folder as the .pst file

By using above steps, you can repair your PST file easily and prevent your valuable data from corruption.

Solution to Open EML Files in MS-Outlook 2007

EML files are designed to open with Windows Live mail. Now a day’s Outlook becomes famous among  business users as well as IT users as it provides us facility to store our information on our local disk. This feature is not avail in Windows Live Mail. That's why most of user's decide to change their email application from Windows Live mail to Outlook. A big problem occurs when a windows live mail user wants to open his EML file in Outlook but unable to do so as MS-Outlook does not support EML file format.

Microsoft solves this issue by providing Outlook 2007 post-Service Pack 1 hot fix package. This package is easily available on Microsoft Site. You have to download the hot fix package and activate it. To enable hot fix registry package, you have to modify the registry that may be difficult because if you apply any command in incorrect manner, it will lead to serious problem of data loss. So it is advised to backup your registry so that if any error occurs, you can restore them.  

  

How to Activate Hot Fix

To activate this hot fix, follow these steps:

 Close your Outlook 2007 Application.

 Now, Start Registry Editor

   

  If you are using Windows Vista Follow these Steps

       Click on Start button of windows

       Open your Search box 

       Type regedit and Tap ENTER.

   

 User Account Control permission: - If you are sanctioned for an administrator password or confirmation then type your password, or click Continue.

   If you are using Windows XP

1.       Start your windows or

2.       Apply Run Command

3.       Open your search box & type regedit

4.       Now, Locate & Select the following registry sub key:

 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft Internet Mail Message\shell\open\command

5.      Apply Right-click command & Modify.

6.      Type following  "%Program Files%\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /eml "%1"

7.       Tap OK.

8.      In File menu, Click on Exit to Close Registry Editor.

After activation of hot fix package, you can use following steps to open the .eml file

Note: - Need not to implement the previous registry data if you use underwritten command-line to open .eml files.

ü  Open your Command Prompt window.

ü  If you are a user of Windows Vista,

ü  Hit on Start button of windows

ü  In Start Search box type command prompt,

ü  Tap ENTER.

        User Account Control permission

        If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

        In Windows XP,

·         Move cursor to Start button & Click Run,

·         Apply cmd command in the text box & Tap Enter

·         Now Type "%Program Files%\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /eml"<PathToEmlFile>", and then press ENTER.

If you are using Windows Vista

ü  Click on Start button

ü  Move cursor to All Programs & Click on Accessories

ü  Now click Run.

ü  Apply cmd command & Enter.

 User Account Control permission    If you are authenticates for an administrator password or      confirmation, types your password, or click     Continue.

 Type "%Program Files%\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /eml "<PathToEmlFile>", and then press ENTER.

Now, check whether the problem is fixed or not .If your issue is not resolved then you can use third   party converter tool to fix this issue.

Errors & their solutions to use earlier version of MS Outlook with Outlook 2013

Microsoft introduced a new exciting feature in MS Outlook 2013 named as ‘Click to run feature. With the help of this feature, you can easily open the earlier version files (2007 & 2010) in coexistence with MS-Outlook 2013 on the same machine. The functionality of this feature (Click to Run) is based on streaming & virtualization technologies. Before going on further, we must be aware of these two terms ‘Streaming’ & ‘virtualization’ technology. Let’s have a look:

Streaming: - The contribution of advance computer programming languages and operating systems has made IT sector work easier by producing & running application code. Streaming technology is designed to perform a particular function by running specific part of a program at any instance to produce output. This minimize the requirement of installing whole program on a system as it is already a part of program which is delivered over the networks in form of piece code.

Virtualization: - Virtualization technology provides encapsulation between application software & fundamental operating system on which program is executed. In virtualization, all computing resources are distributed with dynamism in real time.

If you are using any authorized device and want to access applications from anywhere that is available on that device, you can do it easily just because of virtualization . Virtual applications can seal user settings in each mode whether they are off line or online. By using these two technologies, user is now able to run different products or versions of same software side by side on the same computer.

Subsequent issues that may arise when previous versions of MS-Outlook (2007 & 2010) are used with Outlook 2013:-

• Searching Compatibility:

Instant Search diminishes the trouble involved in searching emails from cluster of emails present in our mailboxes. Instant Search feature of MS-Outlook 2013 will be dominant if previous versions of MS-Outlook are used along with 2013. Outlook 2013 should be in running condition to avail benefit from this .In other words user's of earlier versions of Outlook will easily use Instant Search feature with coexistence in Outlook 2013.

• Files Send & Receive Issue for programs other than outlook 2007 & 2010: -

Sometimes user faces an error “The client operation failed” while sending emails using Outlook 2007 & 2010. This issue usually occur when sender sends a file from another program by using the options such as:-

• Go to desktop and try to send any saved file from desktop
• Do right click on
• Tap to ‘Send to’ option
• Click on Mail recipient

To send file of previous version by using new version, first ensure that new version is in running state.

Solution to the above issues: - To sort out the receiving & sending problem, you must check Outlook 2013 is in running mode. It is also advised if you are using Outlook 2013 then there is no need to keep the previous versions installed, its better to uninstall them.

Steps to do so:

• Move to Control Panel.
• Point to Programs option.
• Select ‘uninstall a program’ option to remove the earlier version installed on your system.
• Open Programs & Features window to select the version to be removed.
• Click on uninstall.
• Open your office setup & follow instructions to remove office.

It's good to use multiple versions of MS Office on the same computer but it will be more advantageous if you use it for a short period of time. After installation of Office 2013, just remove the complete earlier versions and take the benefit of better Outlook performance.

How to configure your Webmail Account to Outlook 2013

In our daily routine, we face the problem of slow internet connection, network failure, no access to internet and we are no longer being capable to fetch or send email. These circumstances force us to search for a solution to sort out this problem. We can easily figure out this dilemma by configuring our Gmail IMAP account with Outlook as we all know it is a desktop application & there is no need of web access to execute particular operation. For a web mail account, we need a browser to run application while for desktop application there is no need of such type requirement. One more advantage of doing this configuration is that user will also be able to accumulate its web based email on their local computer & can save important email.

In the new version of Outlook 2013, user will routinely get notifications of new email received in their inboxes, In fact user don't have to wait for finishing point of process to use Outlook. Although there are various web mail applications like yahoo, Gmail & many more, I am considering Gmail here. We all know email application uses protocol such as POP3 & IMAP to complete function simultaneously. Let's have a look of these protocols:

IMAP: - IMAP is Internet Mail Access Protocol used to access email on a remote server without any need of downloading them on your local hard disk. IMAP supports for both online as well as offline mode of operation. The latest version of IMAP protocol is IMAP4.

POP3:- POP3 is acronym as Post office protocol used by local email clients to retrieve mails from a remote server. POP3 allows you to download your emails on your local machine.

Here, I am discussing Steps to configure your Gmail account with Outlook using IMAP.

1 Log in to your Gmail account

2 Go to settings & point to Forwarding POP/IMAP enables your IMAP settings in IMAP access & save changes

3 Now, head towards Outlook to open your Outlook 2013 Account

4 Select the Account settings & open your Outlook account set up & choose POP or IMAP setting by clicking on radio button Yes. Here, I am choosing IMAP 

 5 After Clicking on IMAP radio button add account set up wizard open requesting for your login information (Gmail account) .Enter the credentials and hit on next tab.

6 After Clicking on Next, your Gmail account is configured with outlook.

7 Now, you will be able to open your outlook 2013 account in Gmail inbox.

In this way, you can configure your Outlook account with Gmail to work without interruption of web access. By doing this, you will be able to coordinate only your emails not your Gmail calendars & contacts.

Necessity to create additional Outlook data file (PST) in MS-Outlook 2013?

OST and PST files both are outlook data files & used to save all Outlook mailbox data and information. OST are expanded as off line outlook data file used to work in off line mode. PST Files was introduced with outlook version 2003. Let's discuss about PST file in brief:-

PST: - PST is expanded as Personal Storage Table. It is created automatically when the user starts configuring IMAP or POP3 account with Outlook. These files are used without Exchange & store all our mailbox information like (journals, tasks, calendars, to -do-list) etc. The storage location of these files is our local disk that helps us in reducing the size of our mail boxes.

The Storage location of PST in Outlook 2013 is:-

Documents/Outlook Files Folder

Factors that demands to an additional PST File are:-

• File attachments that you don't need on regular basis need to be saved separately.
• On-line mail box storage capacity gets exceeded
• Older message needs to be saved or backed up
• To save new email & messages in RSS feed.

Method to create Additional Outlook Data File (PST)

• Tap Home & Open New group
• Click New Items & Point to More Items
• Now click Outlook Data File.
• A Dialog box named as ‘Create or Open Outlook Data File’ appears
• Go to File name box & Type the desired PST file name in the Outlook Folder Pane for the PST file to be created
• Hit OK

If you want to apply password to your PST file then use following steps:

• Go to Password section,
• Write the desired password in the ‘Password’ and ‘Verify Password’ text boxes.

NOTE: If you set the password for PST File then you have to enter the password to open your PST file. You must memorize your password because in case you forget password then noone have right to use your password. In this case, your email administrator and service provider also can't help you to recover information stored in your data file (PST).

Condition: - In case the user access its outlook account from multiple computers or devices then he/she must be sure about one thing that all the moved messages in outlook data file is saved on same computer from where they want to access file, otherwise user will not be able to access data file. Either you are using Outlook as a home user or business user it doesn't matter, what matter most is outlook data file location.

To keep/ save more and more data make additional PST files and save them to your desired location or any secondary storage device so that you can use them as backup or archive files. These file can be used to restore the stored mail data or if any data loss situation arises.