Where is my Outlook "PST" file located?

Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.

I wrote an article about WHAT a PST file is and the Pro's and CON's for using them. Take a look here: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/outlook/what-are-outlook-pst-files-and-why-use-them-or-not/

I think it helps answer a lot of questions about them!

go to file, then open, then the popup should say "outlook data file" and click it. just click up one folder (as its default starting point is where you have it save your pst file) and it will show you were yours currently is...

I read some of the earlier comments about not finding the PST files and I had the same problem. If you go to Control Panel open Folder Options then the View tab and tick Show hidden Files and Apply, when you go thru the procedure again you should see it

We had a new server installed at my office and now Outlook will not start because it cannot find the PST files. I really don't care if I can't recover them, but I have not been able to get Outlook to start without them. I even uninstalled Office 2003 and re-installed, and still get the same error message about not being able to find the PST files. Is there a way to start Outlook and have NEW PST files created? When I start Outlook, it says the path is not valid and then asks for the file location. I have searched the entire hard drive and network drives and cannot find any PST files. Without them, Outlook just closes and will not let you into the program to change any settings or anything.

to Dennis Vannatta at October 31, 2008 3:20 PM
Your outlook mail box may be corrupt. go to control panel, click on mail, click show profiles, click remove. then click add. this will create a new outlook mailbox.

how do u back up pst files

Leo, your advice above was great, I just wished I understood the very first part: how in blazes do I find the tree folder???? I am transferring over Outlook Express from my old desktop to my new laptop. I have copied two folders over, I go to open them, I get error messages. I seem to have copied over the inner folders of OE, but not my personal stuff. The only OE folder under the OE folder that I can open is not called pst, it is msimn. I know it copies to my usb device, I can open it fine until I place it on the new laptop. Then I get error msg. I would love to get my stuff to the new place, why does Bill make it so hard?? Please help, I feel so close

I have recently attempted to recover my email, contacts and address book in outlook 2003 from backed up files after a hard disc crash. I can get my emails OK but I cannot understand how to recover my address boook and calendar. I understand that calender and address book are all in the pst file with my emails. Any help would be appreciated.

Daniel Petri has a good article on repairing pst files using scanpst.exe, my pst file gets corrupted from time to time

To change the location of the outlook.pst file you must have a password. I did not setup a password for Outlook. How can I get into this to change the location? Thanks

To post a comment on "Where is my Outlook "PST" file located?", please return to that article's main page.