About the Outlook PST-File

A PST-file is the file Outlook uses to store it’s items in for all accounts other than an Exchange account. It also holds some configurations like Views, Forms, AutoArchive settings and Rules and Alerts.

The pst-file is also known as Personal Folders and Outlook Data File and is able to store several mail, contacts, journal, notes and calendar folders.

Mail folders are the Inbox, Junk E-mail, Outbox, Send Items and Drafts folders.

There is also a folder called Deleted Items. This folder holds all items (even which aren’t mail ites) when they get deleted. When a folder gets deleted it will show up as a subfolder of the Deleted Items folder. Emptying the Deleted Items folder will permanently delete all the items and subfolders from the Deleted Items folder.

The default location for the pst-file is C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

A pst can be stored on a network share but this method is not recommended by Microsoft as the chances for corruption and data loss are a lot higher than when stored locally.

When a pst-file gets corrupted you can use scanpst.exe to search for and fix errors. By default you can find scanpst.exe (or Inbox Repair Tool) in C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\<locale ID>

An Outlook 97 - 2002 pst-file can become up to 2GB. An Outlook 2003 pst-file can become up to 20GB.

Copying a pst-file can only be done when Outlook is closed.

You can back-up a pst-file to CD-ROM. To read it’s contents you first need to copy it back to your harddisk and remove the “Read Only” file property as Outlook needs Read and Write access to the file. For complete backup and resore instructions click here.