Solved – Outlook Does Not Recognize PST File Error

A Personal Storage Table (PST) is an email data stores all the messages, calendar events, and other items in Microsoft Outlook and other Microsoft software (Exchange Client, Windows Messaging). The purpose of the PST file is to provide end-users with a way to create local archives of their server-based email.

Reasons Behind the Outlook Does Not Recognize PST File Error

This situation occurs when Outlook declares a PST as not being a PST, which signifies that your PST file has been damaged. It usually happens when you try to transfer it from one PC to another. So, in such a case Outlook fails to recognize the PST files. When that happens, neither import nor Open nor scanpst.exe will be able to recognize it.

Well, you need not worry as I will be providing the solution to fix this problem. Before moving to the solution, let’s take a look at some of the factors that are responsible for this inbox repair tool error message.

Methods to Fix Outlook doesn’t Recognize PST File Error

We have suggested our client try the following methods to fix the PST file issue. He tried the following methods and one of the methods worked to fix his problem.

1. Upgrading Microsoft Outlook

Upgrading Microsoft Outlook from an earlier version to a later version is one of the causes of PST file corruption. This occurs when certain files were not properly updated. During this process, some of the older files might get corrupted and becomes inaccessible. It might be possible that you have an ANSI PST file. So, you must upgrade the ANSI PST as well and then upload it to Outlook. This might resolve the issue and Outlook will recognize the PST file.

2. Reducing Size of Large PST Files

The users of Microsoft Outlook might end up consuming a lot of storage space, which results in getting PST file size larger than the defined limit depending upon the Outlook version. So, the PST file limit becomes stretched thin, and this gives room for various forms of file corruption. So you must split the PST file to avoid large PST corruption issues.

In such a case, affected files usually become inaccessible. If the damage is severe, the Inbox Repair tool might not recognize the PST files while trying to fix the damage.

3. Sharing Of Files over Insecure Network

When you share files over a corrupt network then it becomes prone to corruption. It is easy to avoid this issue but still many users fall victim. In case the corruption is severe then it is important to render the inaccessible files.

4 Damaged Hard Drive

Any damage to the hard drive is very likely to have ripple effects on Outlook PST files. And if the damage is severe, the ScanPST tool might not even recognize it.

Also Read: How to solve the Situation Where I Cannot Delete a Message in Outlook

What to Do When ScanPST Does Not Recognize PST File?

As there is no proper manual technique to fix Outlook that does not recognize the PST file problems, you need to first repair the PST file to fix this issue. The only solution left is to try an automated tool. One such tool is Outlook PST Repair, this is one of the most efficient tools which can repair corrupted PST files with great ease. Not only this, but it can also restore deleted emails. It has an amazing feature in which there is no limitation with the file size of the PST file that you need to recover. It also assits to resolve Exchange Server is Unavailable Error. You must try the free demo version of this software to know how it works.

Conclusion

The above article is describing the cases in which Outlook does not recognize PST files. You must see the case and implement it in your Outlook account. This might resolve the unrecognized issue related to your Outlook PST FIles. Also, we have provided the best tool to fix this issue with the causes of the problem. Hope it helps to resolve your query as it helped one of our clients.

About The Author:

Lovely Baghel

Lovely specializes in technical writing for SysInfoTools Software and has over 2 year of experience writing blogs, and articles about databases & backup, email recovery, email migration & management solutions. Her passion is researching and developing content that helps Office users, professionals, administrators, enterprises, and novices solve multiple problems.