Get To Know the Exchange OST Issues and Errors that Need To Be Fixed

Most of the users are working with Microsoft Outlook, which contains OST file to save the mailbox content in Offline mode. Although, this .ost data file is being saved on a local machine and it incorporates mailbox content in the actual file format as they are available on Exchange server. After connecting to the Outlook server all email messages and crucial data stored in OST file and merged with online mailbox. Moreover, OST is the significant file extension but sometimes users may face several issues such as network connectivity or server downtime error and so on.

In general, the corruption is the major reason due to which users unable to access their mailbox data easily. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that why OST files become corrupted or damaged, several reasons behind the occurrence of OST error and how to resolve this issue. In the following segment, we are going to discuss different solution for fixing the MS Outlook error.

How to Determine Possible Causes?

There are multiple reasons due to which corruption occurs in OST data file. Before moving to resolve such error first, need to know the some of the reasons due to as given below:

1). File System Corruption Issue

2). PC shuts down unexpectedly while synchronizing .ost file

3). Virus Attack to the Outlook OST file

4). System Power failure

There are many possible ways to recover Outlook OST file. To follow some solutions to resolve Outlook error:

Method # 1: Using Inbox Repair Tool

Microsoft provides two inbuilt applications such as Named ScanPST.exe and ScanOST.exe, to repair the corrupt OST files.

This solution has many drawbacks like this utility cannot fix severely corrupt OST file. Also, this tool is not available in MS Outlook 2007 and the below versions.

Method#2 Restoring the Backup File

This method is used to replace the corrupted or damaged OST file with a previous backed up copy. Through this users can remove the Outlook errors without any hassle.

However, this method has its own limitations. If users do not take the backup files recently it may result in huge amount of data loss. A large chunk of emails, task or journals may not be recovered that were modified after the last back-up.

Method#3 Recreate Offline OST Data file

In many cases, it may be the best solution to re-create the OST file after clearing all the offline data. This will ensure that all the errors may resolve when the offline data is removed. Try to eliminate all offline data by following the steps below:

After discussing the above steps, delete the Outlook OST file. However, when MS Outlook starts synchronizing with Exchange server, the new OST data file will be created automatically and the data will be downloaded from the Exchange mailbox.

This is not a guaranteed solution to repair the highly corrupted OST files.

Method #4: Create a New Outlook Account

In rare situations, the cause behind such an error might be a corruption of the default Outlook account. In such case, follow below discussed steps to create the new Outlook profile as the default:

In any case, this solution is not able to resolve this issue, then, go for another one.

Limitations of Manual Method

Recommended Tool to Fix Exchange OST Error

If the above-mentioned solution does not work perfectly in order to fix OST error one can go through the professional method i.e. OST Recovery Tool. This software can easily resolve Outlook OST issue and recover the corrupt .ost file easily.

Wrapping it Up