How to access OST file when Exchange Server is not available

No doubt, Outlook is a very efficient e-mail client and personal information manager. But, some times it may show some error messages that halt your work. Consider a practical scenario where in you want to connect/access some OST file with Outlook. But it fails with the below error messages:

Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The file C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.ost cannot be accessed. You must connect to your Microsoft Exchange Server computer at least once before you can use your offlline folder file.

This situation arises when you try to access some OST file for which Exchange Server account is not available or the Outlook profile that created the OST file is being altered.

If you had altered the Outlook profile you can resolve the error by recreating the OST file.

Steps to recreate OST file.

• Quit Outlook and all mail enabled applications.
• Rename old OST file for back-up.
• Open Outlook and connect it with the Exchange Server.

New OST file will be created automatically.

But, in case the Exchange Server account is not available for the OST file (this may happen in case where in you had left your job and have no rights to access Exchange Server mailbox). You need to convert OST file to PST file to access its contents. There will be two cases and you can recover OST file accordingly.

Case1: You have access to the system on which you were accessing your mails and the Outlook profile that created the OST file is not being altered.

Resolution:

You can Export the OST file to PST file using Import/Export function from File menu of Outlook by opening Outlook in off-line mode.

You can also try system restore. Go back a few days and restore OST to PST file.

Case2: If you can not access the system on which the Outlook profile for the OST file is available and you only have the OST file along with you.

Resolution:

In this case you need to perform manual OST PST conversion for which you need to use third party convert .ost to .pst tool. After successfully converting .ost to .pst file, import the resulting PST file in Outlook.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop for OST to PST conversion

Corruption of an Outlook OST file is fairly a common occurrence. OST file goes into a corruption state due to various factors. These factors include, unexpected shutdown of Microsoft Outlook, malicious virus, synchronization error, power outage, network connection failure, failure related to data storage, etc. All these reasons directly result into corruption of OST file. Anyways, the bad effect of the OST corruption is the inaccessibility of data. It becomes impossible to use an Outlook application as OST file is an important part of it. Even after knowing this bitter fact, Outlook application is used by large number of users. It is true that OST file is prone to corruption, but it is possible to overcome the bad effect that is inaccessibility of data with the aid of a latest backup.

However, if backup is not updated or maintained, then a help from a reliable third party tool proves beneficial. Ample of software are available in the market. Out of them, Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop is one of them.

This tool is ruckus free solution to convert OST to PST within small amount of time. The tool provides a facility of a free demo version for the evaluation of the overall features of the tool. In demo version, all the recovered data of OST objects, such as contacts, attachments, appointments, journal, tasks, events, calendar-entries, etc can be previewed. But, it does not permit to save the recovered data. This facility proves quite good especially at times of doing selection of any third party tool. Demo version is the best option to gain some knowledge about the product and its features.

Some of the key features of Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop are as follows:

• The tool recovers OST objects and performs conversion of OST data into PST.
• It employs advanced scan if OST data cannot be recovered through normal scan.
• It performs restoration of the formatting of RTF and HTML messages.
• Developed with interactive user interface, the tool is easy to operate.
• It performs recovery of OST files created in MS-Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000.
• It works well with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.

Problems after non-synchronization of Outlook OST file and its solution

An Outlook file is the most responsible reason for the Microsoft Outlook application to gain a remarkable performance. An Outlook OST file permits you to access the Outlook data even if there is unreliable Internet connectivity. As soon as connection with Exchange Server is made, whole data of an OST file gets synchronized easily. But, if due to any reasons, connection with Exchange Server cannot be made, then non-synchronization of OST data takes place and results into inaccessibility of data. So, in such situation a help from a third party tool to perform OST PST conversion becomes only hope.

In respect to above issue, consider a practical scenario. An error message gets received on the computer screen when starting Microsoft Outlook application. That, error message appears to be like this:

“Cannot open your default email folders. The file xxxx.ost is not an offline folder file.”

‘xxxx.ost’ refers to the name of the OST file created by Microsoft Outlook when it is working with Exchange mailbox offline. It might be possible that you may not be familiar with the file as it is created implicitly.

Cause:
Above error message is caused because of the following two reasons. These reasons include:

• Corrupt or damaged Outlook OST file, and cannot be identified by Microsoft Outlook. This is the reason, Outlook throws the above stated error message.

• An Outlook OST file is linked with a mailbox on an Exchange Server. If due to any of the reasons, MS-Outlook fails to access the linked Exchange mailbox or start synchronizing the mailbox with the offline folders in the Outlook OST file.

Solution:
For solving the above stated erroneous situation, and to access the inaccessible data first of all, you have to follow the below steps:

1. Find the erroneous Outlook OST file.
2. Recover the offline data in the Outlook OST file.
3. Perform backup of an Outlook OST file.
4. Perform removal and change the name of the problematic original Outlook OST file.
5. Solve the error.

However, if no proper results get found, then it is advised for you to opt for a third party OST to PST converter tool. The main job of these third party tools is to convert OST to PST. One good thing is that there is no need to have sound technical skills for doing conversion. These third party tools have read-only nature, and effective conversion capabilities. Developed with simple graphical user interface, this tool is simple and easy to operate. One of the tools that have been specially designed for conversion of Outlook OST data into PST is a Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop. Results produced are quite good.

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How to Resolve Unable to Expand the Folders error in Outlook

Outlook uses two types of files to store mailbox data on your local system. One is the OST file(offline storage table) other is the PST file(personal storage table). OST file is used when you configure Outlook to work in offline mode. All offline work is being stored in OST file and gets synchronized with the Exchange Server when Internet connection resumes.

Some times while synchronization you may get the error message:

Unable to expand the folder. The set of folders could not be opened. Errors could have been detected in the file xxxx.ost. Quit all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox Repair Tool.
Getting this error means your there is some issue with your OST file and it could not get properly synchronized with the Exchange Server. The reason behind OST file corruption may be one of the following:

• OST gets infected by a virus.
• Corruption of Exchange Server Database
• Exchange Server crash
• Deletion of mailbox from the Exchange Server

Resolution: As stated in the error message, quit all mail enabled applications that can use OST file.

• Find the OST file : A detailed explanation of where to find Outlook OST file
• Run the Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe) to repair the OST file.
• Recover the repaired items.

In some scenarios scanpst.exe does not repair ost fie this is due to the fact that this tool does not work in complex cases of OST file corruption. If this method fails you should try third party ost recovery tool that convert ost to pst file. Such tools are capable of converting ost to pst file even in highest degree of OST file corruption and able to recover all components of .ost file such as emails, attachments, contacts, calendar entries, notes tasks etc. Once you get the converted PST file you can save it to any disk or storage media and can open it directly with Outlook.