PST files are associated with Microsoft Outlook. These files are the storehouse of Outlook information including e-mails, calendar entries, journals, tasks and more. Until a PST file is sound, you cannot experience any problem with your Outlook account. But once it develops errors, major issues might crop up while performing regular tasks with Outlook. Outlook might experience startup problems or mails would not get downloaded etc. In such situations, you must look for effective pst repair solutions. And, if need arises you should use the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to get rid off any sort of corruption issue. This way you ensure the integrity of data which resides in a PST file.

Consider a scenario, wherein, you launch Outlook 2007 (in your Windows Vista-based computer) to send some important e-mails and appointments. But you could not get through it and receive the following error message:

"FileName.pst file could not be opened. The file may not be compatible with this version of Outlook or it may be corrupted."

Cause

The above error message can restrict you from launching Outlook in the following conditions:

You might have made use of the Backup Status and Configuration program to back up the PST file You might have used the Backup Status and Configuration program to restore the PST file from a backup If the PST file is located in an encrypted folder

Resolution

The above error can be resolved by rectifying the PST file using the following Outlook PST Recovery steps:

Use the Inbox Repair Tool to repair your damaged or corrupt PST file. 1.Close Outlook 2007 2.Click Start>Control Panel 3.Click User Accounts and Family Safety or User Accounts 4.Click Mail 5.Go to Data Files>Personal Folders>, and then click Settings 6.Take a note of the text in the Filename box 7.Press OK, followed by clicking Close twice 8.Go to Start, in the Start Search box, type the following: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12\ and press Enter 9.Type the path and file name of the PST file which your recorded in Step 6 in the Enter the name of the file you want to scan box 10.Click Start 11.When the Scanpst.exe completes the process, click OK

If the problem still persists, then its is suggested you better grab a third-party pst repair software.

Corrupt PST files can be easily repaired and recovered using Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair, an easy-to-use application. This Outlook PST Repair application supports MS Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. Apart from recovering information from encrypted PST files, this application also supports recovering deleted e-mails.