Free Utility Scan PST (Scanpst.exe)

Scanpst.exe is a free utility from Microsoft designed to repair corrupt or damaged Outlook PST files. You can look for a free scanpst.exe download, but that isn’t very safe as you never know what kind of file you might be getting from the Internet. And it isn’t necessary. Every version of Outlook, including XP, 2000, 2003, 2007, etc. (even the latest Microsoft Outlook 2010) includes a copy of the “Inbox Repair Tool”, which is the name for the scanpst.exe software program.

The problem is that the Microsoft Office/Outlook installer places the repair program in hard-to-find locations and makes it a hidden file. So make sure you search all your system files and you should be able to find it (more details on this below).
Scanpst.exe Errors

The other challenge you will have is that this free tool does a rather poor job of fixing the errors and recovering all the data from an Outlook.pst or Personal Folders File, which is the single file in which all your email messages, contact records, shared items, appointments, journal entries, calendar events, alarms, schedules and other valuable information is stored. Because of that, there are several third-party PST repair tools available that do a much better job at PST recovery and repair.

Fortunately, all of the good utilities have trial versions that you can download and try out on your own Outlook files to see if they will be able to solve the problem better than Scan Pst. It would be nice if there were reviews for each of these programs, but that just isn’t practical. There are an almost infinite number of ways that a PST file can get damaged.

There are known bugs that can cause things like an 0X80040600 error, or you might lose power and have your computer shut down while Office was in the middle of updating your email or contact records. Or your file might have grown larger than the 2gb file size limit some older versions weren’t able to handle. Or a bad bit on your hard drive could alter the encoding of the file, which is a database file under the covers, making it impossible for Outlook to read it properly.

PST Repair Tools

So even though you’d like to be able to find out which is the best *.pst repair tool, and which ones are no good, you really have to try one or more of them yourself and see how they work for you. And if you have a big file, the process might take a while. But if you data has any value to you at all, it might be worth the time, hassle, and expense to buy a tool that can repair the damage, recover your data, and reduce your file size.

Here are some options to consider.

[Note that most of the products listed here advertise that they have a money back guarantee. So if you do buy one of these just make sure you use it promptly and, if it fails to solve your problem, ask for a refund before the 30 days has gone by. Also look for a vendor that provides online support, as these do, since recovering a broken .pst file can be tricky and you might need help.]

1. Stellar Phoenix has been around for a long time and specializes in data recovery in general. They have an award-winning Stellar Outlook PST Repair program that you can download and try out here. Many consider them one of the best, so you might want to start with them first. Stellar Phoenix Outlook includes a password recovery and file splitting utility as part of their package.

2. Another well-established vendor is Nucleus Data Recovery, makers of the Kernel for Outlook PST Repair Tool, which you can download and evaluate from here. Kernel is available in three different licenses, Personal (single user), Corporate (install on multiple machines at the same company) and Technician (use to fix PST files for clients), which might be handy, depending on how many files you need to repair.

3. Data Numen has been around a long time and makes a variety of data recovery products, including their Advanced Outlook Repair (AOR) tool. This could very well be the most expensive option of all, so be sure to read more about it and download the free demo before making a final decision.

4. Disk Doctors has an Outlook Mail Recovery Program with a demo download and more information here. However, they do NOT offer any refund on this product, so this might not be the best first choice. Make sure you evaluate this one fully before you consider purchasing it.

Access Database Files

You can use Access to manage all of your information in one file. Within an Access database file, you can use:

• Tables to store your data.
• Queries to find and retrieve just the data that you want.
• Forms to view, add, and update data in tables.
• Reports to analyze or print data in a specific layout.

1 Store data once in one table, but view it from multiple locations. When you update the data, it's automatically updated everywhere it appears.
2 Retrieve data by using a query.
3 View or enter data by using a form.
4 Display or print data by using a report.

All of these items — tables, queries, forms, and reports — are database objects (database objects: An Access database contains objects such as tables, queries, forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules. An Access project contains objects such as forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules.).

Note: Some Access databases contain links to tables that are stored in other databases. For example, you may have one Access database that contains nothing but tables, and another Access database that contains links to those tables, as well as queries, forms, and reports that are based on the linked tables. In most cases, it does not matter whether a table is a linked table or actually stored in the database.

Inbox Mail Repair Tool

If you can't open your Personal Folders file (.pst) or your Offline Folder file (.ost), or you suspect that your .pst or .ost data file is corrupted, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. The Inbox Repair tool scans only the .pst or .ost file, not your mailbox on the server running Microsoft Exchange. The tool determines whether the file structure is intact. If it is not intact, the Inbox Repair tool resets your file structure and rebuilds the headers.

The Inbox Repair tool works on both the Microsoft Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst) and the Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) data files in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Scanpst.exe is installed when you install Outlook. It is located at:

drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.

Repair errors by using Scanpst.exe

1. Exit Outlook if it is running.
2. Double-click Scanpst.exe, located at drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12.
3. In the Enter the name of the file you want to scan box, enter the name of the .pst or .ost file that you want to check, or click Browse to search for the file.
4. To specify the scan log options, click Options, and then click the option that you want.
5. Click Start.
6. If errors are found after the scan is complete, you will be prompted to start the repair process to fix the errors.

A backup file is created during the repair process. To change the default name or location of this backup file, in the Enter name of backup file box, enter a new name, or click Browse to look for the file that you want to use.

7. Click Repair.
8. Start Outlook by using the profile that contains the .pst file that you tried to repair.
9. On the Go menu, click Folder List.

In the Folder List, you may see a folder named Recovered Personal Folders that contains your default Outlook folders or a Lost and Found folder. The recovered folders are usually empty, because this is a rebuilt .pst file. The Lost and Found folder contains the folders and items recovered by the Inbox Repair tool. Items that are missing from the Lost and Found folder cannot be repaired.

10. If you see a Recovered Personal Folders folder, you can create a new .pst file, and drag the items in the Lost and Found folder into the new .pst file. When you have finished moving all the items, you can remove the Recovered Personal Folders (.pst) file, including the Lost and Found folder, from your profile.

Notes
* If you are able to open the original .pst file, you may be able to recover additional items from your damaged .pst file. By default, the Inbox Repair tool creates a file called file name.bak, which is a copy of the original .pst file with a different extension. The .bak file is located in the same folder as your original .pst file. You may be able to recover items from the .bak file that the Inbox Repair tool could not recover. Make a copy of the .bak file, and give the file a new name with a .pst extension, such as bak.pst. Import the bak.pst file, and then move any additional recovered items to the new .pst file that you created.
* A copy of the log file is written to the same location as the .pst file.

Source: http://office.microsoft.com

Setup Outlook 2007 - POP3 - IMAP - Gmail

To set up your Outlook 2007 client to work with Gmail:

1. Open Outlook.
2. For new setups, select Do not upgrade.
3. Click Yes.
4. Enter your display name, email address (including '@gmail.com'), and password. Google Apps users, enter your full email address, e.g. 'username@your_domain.com.'
5. Select the 'Manually configure server settings or additional server types' checkbox.
6. Select Internet E-mail.
7. Settings: name, full email address (including '@gmail.com' or '@your_domain.com')
   
   * In the Account Type dropdown menu, select IMAP; enter the incoming and outgoing server names shown below.
   * In the 'User Name' field, give your full Gmail address, including '@gmail.com' or '@your_domain.com.'
   * After creating these settings, clicking Next takes you to the end of the setup.
8. In the Tools menu, select Options then Mail Setup. Under 'Email Accounts,' click E-mail Accounts.
9. Select an account, and click Change above the list of accounts. Click More Settings, then the Advanced tab.
   
   * Incoming server must be 993, and must use SSL encryption.
   * Outgoing server can use 587, TLS encryption.
10. Click the Outgoing Server tab. Make sure that 'My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication' is selected. The radio button 'Use same settings as my incoming mail server' should also be selected
    .
11. Click OK > Next > Finish > Close > OK.

Setup Outlook 2003 - POP3 - IMAP - Gmail

To set up your Outlook 2003 client to work with Gmail:

1. Enable IMAP in Gmail. Don't forget to click Save Changes when you're done.
2. Open Outlook.
3. Click the Tools menu, and select E-mail Accounts...
4. Click Add a new e-mail account, then click Next.
5. Choose IMAP as your server type by clicking the radio button, and click Next.
6. Fill in all necessary fields to include the following information:

User Information

• Your Name: Enter your name as you would like it to appear in the From: field of outgoing messages.
• Email Address: Enter your full email address (username@gmail.com). Google Apps users, enter your address in the format username@your_domain.com

Server Information

• Incoming mail server (IMAP): imap.gmail.com
• Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

Login Information

• User Name: Enter your full email address (including @gmail.com or @your_domain.com)
• Password: Enter your Gmail password.

7. Click More Settings... and then click the Outgoing Server tab.
8. Check the box next to 'My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication' and select Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
9. Click the Advanced tab, and check the box next to 'This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)' under Incoming Server (IMAP).
10. Check the box next to 'This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)' under Outgoing Server (SMTP), and enter 465 in the Outgoing server (SMTP) box.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Test Account Settings... After receiving the message 'Congratulations! All tests completed successfully', click Close.
13. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Microsoft Outlook Express - POP3 - IMAP - Gmail

To set up your Outlook Express client to work with Gmail:

1. Enable IMAP in Gmail. Don't forget to click Save Changes when you're done.
2. Open Outlook Express.
3. Click the Tools menu, and select Accounts.
4. Click Add, and then click Mail.
5. Enter your name in the 'Display name' field, and click Next.
6. Enter your full email address (username@gmail.com) in the 'Email address' field, and click Next. If you are a Google Apps user, enter your full address in the format 'username@your_domain.com.'
7. For 'My incoming mail server is a ______ server', please select IMAP in the drop-down menu.
8. Enter 'imap.gmail.com' in the 'Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP or HTTP) server' field. Enter 'smtp.gmail.com' in the 'Outgoing mail (SMTP) server' field.
9. Click Next.
10. Enter your full email address (including '@gmail.com' or '@your_domain.com') in the 'Account name' field. Enter your password in the 'Password' field, and click Next.

11. Click Finish.
12. Highlight imap.gmail.com under Account, and click Properties.
13. Click the Advanced tab.
14. Under Outgoing Mail (SMTP), check the box next to 'This server requires a secure connection (SSL).'
15. Enter '465' in the 'Outgoing mail (SMTP)' field.


16. Under Incoming mail (IMAP), check the box next to 'This server requires a secure connection (SSL)'. The port will change to '993'.
17. Click the Servers tab, and check the box next to 'My server requires authentication.'
18. Click OK.