Working with Outlook PST Files and Resolving Common PST Corruption Issues

MS Outlook helps you manage personal email and other data with ease. There are tens of millions of Outlook users worldwide that are using its services to meet their communication needs at work, home, and school. It provides a number of advanced features (such as search, communication, and social networking) that help to increase your productivity and get a world-class experience. Outlook stores all your email data in a '.PST' file that is stored locally on individual user's workstation.

Outlook users run across various situations that eventually render all your mail data stored in the PST inaccessible. This problem usually surfaces due to corruption of the Outlook PST file. One of the top concerns for Outlook users was oversizing of the email database.

A PST file nearing the maximum size limit imposed by MS Outlook can easily fall prey to corruption. However, MS Outlook 2010 has extended the PST file size limit to 50 GB eliminating the problem at its root. PST file corruption may be encountered due to several other reasons, including improper shutdown, hardware crash, abnormal termination of Outlook, and the like.

In a similar situation, you may receive the following error while trying to access the address list in your Outlook PST:

'The address list could not be displayed.'

The above error may show up on the screen due to corruption of the PST file. In order to resolve the issue, you may follow the given series of steps:

•    Launch MS Outlook.
•    Go to 'Tools' and select 'E-mail Accounts'.
•    Select 'View or change existing directories or address books option' and click 'Next'.
•    From the account list, select 'Outlook Address Book' and click 'Remove'.
•    Click 'Yes' and then click 'Add'.
•    Select 'Additional Address Books' and click 'Next.
•    Choose 'Outlook Address Book' and click 'Next'.
•    Click 'OK' for restarting the application.
•    Click 'Finish' and quit Outlook.
•    Start Outlook application.
•    In the folders list, right-click the folder that you need to show as Address Book and choose 'Properties'.
•    Select the 'Outlook Address Book' tab.
•    Mark the 'Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book' check box and click 'OK'.

If you fail to regain access to your address book, repair the corrupt PST using professional Outlook PST repair tools. These software help you fix corruption in your PST file and recover all inaccessible mail items, including messages, calendar entries, appointments, notes, and tasks.