I am having trouble with Outlook performing properly. Apparently, the pst file is corrupt. I have tried the SCANPST.EXE tool to no avail. I understand there is another tool called “Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair”. It is available for free, and it will supposedly fix what the other tool will not. But, is this tool legitimate, or is this a trojan horse or such? Can anyone vouch for this alternate tool before I really screw up my PC?
Is your email only in the PST? If you are using POP3 that is likely the case, but if you are using IMAP or an Exchange server you can rename it and create a new one.
Sorry to say, you’re talking a foreign language. And, even if I could create a new one, I think you mean I can create a new Inbox? Presently, I have no ability to respond to emails nor delete emails nor show emails as read in my Inbox, for starters. Also, I have issues accessing emails stored in one large folder (which I suspect is the culprit to this whole mess).
If you can break down what you’re saying into simpler terms, please tell me what it will gain me and not gain me.
Outlook can “speak” a few different languages:
[ol]
[li]POP3 - the oldest one still in use, typically downloads the email and deletes off the server[/li][li]IMAP - newer, downloads a copy but usually leaves it on the server[/li][li]EWS - used with Exchange server, typically corporate servers but some ISPs[/li][/ol]
Is the mail server run by your internet provider? Do they have some kind of webmail?
Yes, I have Comcast (Xfiniity) for webmail, but it appears it only keeps one month’s worth of emails (unless you know how to view older emails?).
Ok, that helps although I’m not familiar with Xfinity. I did find this:
Can you take a look in Outlook and check if you are using POP or IMAP?
I can’t even get Outlook to open now, but I have a very strong feeling it’s POP. I did find instructions for creating a new profile and converting (or moving) from a PST file to IMAP, but will the corruption simply follow? Also, I did download a free PST viewer that works great for viewing only. And, for $70, this demo can be the full blown PST recovery tool. But, my question is…if the viewer works sooo well, how come the SCANPST.exe tool can’t handle it? The viewer seems to have no trouble at all without jumping through hoops to get it to work. I guess there’s no option than paying the $70, huh?
BTW: The conversion can supposedly be done outside of Outlook.
Can you open Outlook in safe mode? Run OUTLOOK.EXE /SAFEMODE at the command prompt.
If all the email is still on the server, you don’t need to recover the PST. Try to create a new profile using the IMAP instructions. If everything is there, you’re in the clear.
FYI: No, Outlook won;t even open in Safe mode. 
One question (to be clear): If I create a new profile using the IMAP instructions, then when Outlook opens, it will know to look for the IMAP file vs. the PST file, correct? And, emails backlogged in my webmail since the Outlook stopped working will come in as usual, I presume?
Also, most important! If I create a new IMAP profile…can I keep my same email address?
No, the corruption doesn’t “simply follow”. PSTs are structured data files used to store email (and related Outlook) data, and your data file is corrupt in some way. Whatever email items that can still be read out of the PST will be “normal”. The issue is that, because the data structure is damaged, you may not necessarily be able to recover all the items.
Because scanpst.exe is not particularly good; it’s pretty basic in what kind of file structure errors that it can detect and fix. PSTs can get corrupted (computers/hard drives are not perfect) so it’s usually best to take regular backups so you can restore from a known good copy. I have no experience with 3rd-party PST repair tools, although I have heard that some of them do yield decent results. If your viewer tool seems to be able to read email items out of your corrupt PST, that’s probably a good sign that your PST is not too badly damaged.
IMAP and POP are just two different ways of working with email on an email server. The mailbox itself doesn’t change in any meaningful way. You would just configure your email client to connect to the same mailbox as always, just using IMAP instead of POP.
Typically by default, there is no “IMAP file” when configuring Outlook to connect to mailboxes using IMAP. The mail stays on the email server and you work off the server copy. This is different from POP where, again typically, you copy the mail off the mail server into a PST stored on your local computer, delete the mail off the server, and then work off your PST. I do stress typically; you can certainly configure Outlook to operate in IMAP/POP modes differently that the usual defaults, if you like. In this regard, IMAP is “better” in that the mail stays on a server, which (one hopes) is more reliable and backed-up than a personal machine. The downside of IMAP is you can’t look at your emails unless you first connect to the email server, since that’s where they are located by default. Also, most mail servers have storage quotas, so you have to start deleting/archiving-off/whatever mail as your server mailbox storage fills up.
Thanks for the details to help me better understand how this all works! One last question (re: PST files), where does Outlook 2007 store archived folders and emails? (Are these OST files?) Bottom line, they are stored outside of the PST file, correct?