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If your Outlook keeps crashing and showing errors when you try to access your emails, then there is a high chance of OST file corruption. Don’t worry, there is no need to panic; there are a few fixes that help you to fix corrupt OST file in Outlook. This tutorial consists of easy fixes, advanced solutions, and also helps you find whether your OST file is corrupted or not. Let’s begin and fix your data file.
How to Check if an OST File is Corrupted?
If the OST file becomes corrupted, it can lead to a series of errors. Here are a few measures that help you find whether your OST file is corrupted or not.
- Outlook crashes frequently when you try to open Outlook.
- Your emails, contacts, or calendars are not showing up.
- Showing error message like – “Cannot open your default email folders” or “Username.ost is in use cannot be accessed”.
- Outlook becomes unresponsive when you try to access certain mailboxes.
- While accessing Outlook, you encounter the “Outlook using old copy of data file” pop-up message, then your data file corrupted.
- Receive regular alerts to repair your OST file using the Inbox Repair Tool.
If you are facing all the above-mentioned issues, then you need to repair corrupt OST file. However, before you start repairing the OST file, let’s know the reasons for the corruption.
Simple Solutions to Fix Corrupt OST File in Outlook
Before trying advanced measures, check out these basic fixes.
- Restart Outlook and Windows: Close your Outlook and shut down your system. Then restart the PC and try to open Outlook.
- Run Outlook in Safe Mode: Opening Outlook in safe mode can fix the issue. This will disable the add-ins that are interfering. For that, press Windows icon+R and type – Outlook.exe /safe.
- Disable Faulty Add-ins: Outlook offers various add-in features to increase its performance. However, sometimes these add-ins cause issues. Remove all of them; for that, go to File > Options > Add-ins and uncheck suspicious ones.
- Check Internet/Server Status: If your network connectivity is poor, then it must be a synchronization issue, not OST file corruption.
If you still face the issue, then to repair corrupt OST file, you need to use the advanced features.
Advanced Methods to Repair Corrupt OST File
Even if trying the above solutions doesn’t work for you, then follow these technical ways to repair the corrupted Outlook OST file. Here are the fixes –
1. Repair Outlook Profile: Sometimes, your Outlook profile can cause the issue. Repairing or creating a new profile can fix corrupt OST file and other issues.
- Go to Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles.
- Select your Outlook profile and click Properties > Email Accounts.
- Choose your account and click Repair.
- Follow the prompts and restart Outlook.
2. Compact the OST File: The oversized OST file can cause issues since it is easy to get corrupted. Thus, it is best to split large OST file into smaller parts. Here are the steps to compact your OST file
- In Outlook, go to File > Account Settings > Data Files.
- Select your OST file and click Settings.
- Go to Advanced > Outlook Data File Settings.
- Click Compact Now.
3. Rebuild the OST File: If the OST file is damaged and there are fewer chances to repair it, then it is best to delete the OST file and let Outlook create a new .ost file.
- Close Outlook.
- Navigate to: C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.
- Delete the corrupted OST file.
- Restart Outlook, and it will download a new copy from the server.
Note: The unsynchronized data will be deleted permanently.
Alternative Solutions to Fix Corrupt OST File
If the above methods don’t work, your OST file is likely too damaged to be fixed with manual solutions. BLR OST to PST Converter Tool will effortlessly recover emails and other data from a corrupted OST file. Moreover, this OST to PST tool supports corrupted, damaged, and orphaned OST files. All you need to do is add the corrupted OST file and create a new and healthy PST file. Most importantly, it will convert OST to PST without Outlook installation. With its simple and user-friendly interface, it is easy to repair the damaged OST file without any data loss.
Conclusion
In this post, we discuss all the possible solutions to repair corrupt OST file with ease. There few simple and advanced measures that will manually fix OST file corruption. If all the solutions don’t work, then try out the professional tool. Hope this article will be helpful with your damaged OST file.
