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I need to backup or make a copy of my mail folders in Outlook, which as you know are stored in something called a "PST" file. I've looked everywhere, and can't find it. Where does Outlook hide my email? Where does Outlook keep my PST file? PST stands for "Personal STore" - as in your personal mail storage. PST files are really fairly complex databases that contain your mail, your calendar, your contacts and even more, when you use Microsoft Office's Outlook mail program. The default location has changed a time or two over the years, but mostly because the default location of many things changed between Windows 9x and Windows NT/XP and later. And of course there's always a chance that your PST is stored in some other, non-default, location. Rather than telling you where the default location is, let's use Outlook itself to tell you the exact path of your PST file. I'm using Outlook 2003, but the technique is similar for Outlook XP and Outlook 2000. The easiest and quickest way I know of is to open the "tree view" of your folders, if you haven't already:
"The easiest and quickest way I know of is to open the
'tree view' of your folders ..."
Each top level item, normally called "Personal Folders", or "Outlook Today", represents a separate PST. Right click on it and then select Properties:
Now click on the Advanced button:
And there, right in the middle of everything, is the Filename, the full path, to the PST. In this case you'll notice that I'm most definitely using a non-standard location. Yours will most assuredly be different. The default location under Windows XP is typically a location underneath "\Documents And Settings\username", where "username" is your Window login account name. Related:
• Recent Comments
I was helping a friend recover after a virus. He had a number of large Outlook PST files/archives. Unfortunately we did not read any directions and just right clicked on the file and said "Open with" and picked Outlook. Outlook chugged and chugged finally starting after a number of minutes. In this end we did not see any of the contacts/emails which he expected. On another pst file we wised up and within Outlook did a import of the pst which brought up the emails from the second pst file. Problem is it seems the file pst evaporated in thin air when we did the "Open with". Are those emails hiding or have we lost his archived documents. Posted by: Wally at April 14, 2008 05:57 AMHi Leo, looking forward to an answer cheers Well it seems that this is not an uncommon issue. But I myself have seemed to fall its pray. Outlook 07 was woorking great with no issues 2 days ago. and today i try to open my e-mail and no .pst file anywhere. Ive uninstalled reinstalled and just about anything else other then a fresh wipe of the system. Where can i get a .pst file so that i can use outlook once again. Posted by: Michael at April 21, 2008 01:11 PMYou can also find your PSTs by clicking on the DATAFILE MANAGEMENT link in your FILE pulldown menu. This will show Archives (if existing) as well as Personal Folders. Posted by: MW at May 2, 2008 06:11 AMI found my pst for backup files as you described using outlook. Now, how do I exactly transfer those files to external hard drive? Where exactly do I look up this pst file to make the transfer of data? Thanks, I desperatly need to find this file, outlook seems to have deleted my profile with my entire calender for the year & my contacts! I can't accecc my emails easily at the moment either. I need to find this file without being able to use outlook. and help will be gratefully recieved. Posted by: Toby Ketley at June 2, 2008 03:38 AM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Use this article: Leo
iD8DBQFIRKctCMEe9B/8oqERAlgBAKCM2NmJhkdSDGyKw0UZzKEh9WqP5wCdGKww I found useful. I was also not able to see the Advance Tab the way Leo explained. But I was able to find my Outlook.pst through going File|Data File Management. Select the Personal Folders and click settings & you should be able to see the address of your pst (FileName) My pst was in - When I went to this address I did not see any pst file, but I was able to see an outlook file which was called Office Data file. But fortunately that is the PST file as the size was big (typically pst are big)!!! Now I can understand why didn't I get any files when I search for *.pst file. Thanks Posted by: Harsha at June 12, 2008 08:36 PMHi Leo, Thanks for providing such nice information regarding the pst and its location.If your pst file is corrupted, damaged or lost and you are not able to repair it with the help of free Microsoft utility you can try a good pst recovery software.This software provides recovery from PST Recovery from folders, calendars, contacts, tasks, notes. It even provides recovery from password protected and encrypted pst file.It is easy to use and supports all the version of outlook. You can check its capability by downloading the free demo from the site Post a comment on "Where is my Outlook "PST" file located?":
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