How to Recover Files From Outlook PST

Microsoft Outlook is one of the best email clients with features like automatic email management, journal logging, note-taking, etc. Even though it’s an efficient email client, many issues slow down its performance, hampering your work and leading to a loss of productivity and time. It shows that Outlook is also prone to problems like other email clients.

Now the question that arises in the mind of Outlook users is - How to recover files from Outlook PST. There are many issues and solutions that necessitate urgent recovery of files from PST data file. Kindly read this blog to learn everything about this issue.

Brief of PST Data File?

Here’s a quick introduction to PST files. PST (or Personal Storage Table) is a data storage file containing personal information used by Microsoft Outlook & Exchange for archiving data offline viewed within Microsoft software such as Exchange Client and Outlook later on. It may include email folders, contacts, addresses, and other data. This data file gets created when users configure their account with the POP protocol.

Long-term short, PST files help you comfortably access your Outlook profile and save a copy on your local system.

Reasons to Recover Files From Outlook PST

Many reasons necessitate the file recovery from Outlook PST, and some of them are -

Accidental Deletion - Many users accidentally delete their PST data file from the system without knowing they are deleting their Outlook data. If they permanently delete the Outlook data file from the Recycle Bin using the Shift + Delete combination, they can’t recover it unless they take the help of some technical expertise.

Manually Emptying Deleted Items Folder In Outlook - Another reason for the necessary recovery of files from Outlook PST file is when Outlook users manually empty the Deleted Items folder in Outlook by mistake. Simply said, Outlook users permanently delete all emails and other files (tasks, journals, and calendars) mistakenly and lose all the files without even knowing it.

The Deleted Items or the Trash folder in Outlook is where your deleted emails and other files get stored for a month. After one month of no activity of restoring and mistaken deletion, the deleted files go to the Recoverable Items folder.

Permanently Emptying Recoverable Items Folder - Another mistake Outlook users make is permanently emptying the Recoverable Items folder in Outlook, not thinking about the repercussions of this action.

• This folder is invisible to the users, and the emails are stored in this folder when -
• Emails and other files get deleted from the Deleted Items or Trash folder.
• The Deleted Items or Trash folder is already empty.
• Users permanently delete files using Shift + Delete Keys.

Corruption In Files - Corruption in Outlook files is another reason to recover files from Outlook PST files. Outlook files can get corrupted for various reasons like sudden power failure, virus infection, improper system/Outlook shutdown, etc. Whatever the reason for corruption, it becomes necessary to recover files beforehand.

These reasons tell us the problems why it’s necessary to recover Outlook data. Now let’s read the solutions you can use to solve the issue.

Solutions for Recovering Outlook Files

There are two solutions you can use to recover Outlook files. We will discuss these solutions one by one.

Solution 1: Recover Data From Deleted Items/Recoverable Items Folder

The first solution to recover files from Outlook PST data file is to recover the data from the Deleted Items or the Recoverable Items folder. Once you recover your deleted data from either folder, you can save it on your system for later viewing.

1. Steps to Recover Files From Deleted Items folder:
2. Open Outlook and go to the Deleted Items folder in the left pane.
3. Once the folder opens, select the files you want to restore.
4. Right-click on the files individually or select them using the Select All option.
5. Click Move and choose the folder to recover the files.

Steps to Recover Files From Recoverable Items folder:

1. First, ensure that Outlook gets connected to the mail server.
2. Inside the app, go to the Deleted Items folder under your email folder list.
3. Now click the Recover Deleted Items from Server option next to the New Items option in the top left corner.
4. Select the Restore Selected Items option and click OK.

Solution 2: Use An Automated Tool

There’s another solution to recover files from Outlook PST: an automated tool like the Outlook Recovery Tool. This tool helps you recover Outlook PST data without data loss and also recover selective data only. Here are some features -

• Repair PST files and Restore PST data in Office 365.
• Recover data from corrupt PST files in ANSI & UNICODE formats.
• Selective Export option to restore selected data.
• Preview attachments in all categories after recovery.

Let’s follow the steps to use the tool -

1. Install the tool, open it, and click Add File to add the PST file.
2. The Add File window opens, letting you Select/Search PST file in your system.
3. The tool displays all the deleted emails and other files in red colour.
4. Select them and click Export Selected since we are recovering only deleted files.
5. Select the export format as PST and the destination to save the resultant data file in the Export Options window.
6. Click on Export to start the exporting process. Once done, you can see the exported files in the selected destination.

Once the recovered PST file gets downloaded, open/import it into the Outlook application.

Conclusion

This article explored the reasons and solutions to recover files from Outlook PST. It becomes necessary to stay alert while using Outlook and the files stored in the Outlook PST file since a mistake can lead to these files getting deleted. Both the solutions mentioned in this article are best for helping you secure the files.