The Outlook Inbox Repair Utility

The Inbox Repair Tool can be used to fix corrupt PST files and even OST files. Although the tool can be useful, it isn’t always able to repair every PST file. It works by repairing the PST file’s header and then deleting anything in the file that it doesn’t understand. So if a PST file’s header is damaged, as may be the case for corruption that occurs during a version upgrade of Office, the tool should have no trouble making the repair. But if the data within the file is corrupt, the Inbox Repair Tool will likely destroy what’s left of the file. That’s why it’s always good to make a backup of the PST file before running the Inbox Repair Tool.

The Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) is located in the drive: \ Program Files \ Common Files \ System \ MSMapi \ 1033 \ directory of any system that’s running Windows XP. The Inbox Repair Tool filename is Scanpst.exe. Other versions of Windows also include the Inbox Repair Tool, but the tool’s location varies among earlier versions. When the tool is run, it performs the following functions:

• Analyses the directory structure of the .pst in an attempt to recover all folders and items.

• If problems are found, it will attempt to repair .pst file.
• The tool will also try and turn any file into a pst.