Microsoft Outlook — which is part of Microsoft Office — is a great desktop-based app to handle emails and calendars. Outlook is especially a great email client app for business as it comes with more advanced features compared to Windows Mail.

Outlook allows you to view emails and calendars offline. It stores the email and calendar data in a PST format (Personal Storage Table). If you backup your emails in Outlook, the backup file is also stored in a PST file. If this file gets corrupted, you won’t be able to restore the emails stored on it. Outlook itself doesn’t specifically tell you if your PST file is corrupted. Instead, it typically just displays the following message if it is unable to open your PST file.

Although Outlook doesn’t specifically tell you that there is something wrong with your PST file, the common cause of the error message above it the corrupted PST file. After clicking the Close program on the error message above, you will get another pop-up as follows.

As you can see, Outlook will let you know that something is wrong with your file on the next pop-up and prompt you to click the OK button to repair it. Yes, Outlook has a built-in feature to repair a corrupted PST file. But, the reputation of the built-in PST recovery feature of Outlook is very bad. Out of 1000 tries, it is not necessarily able to fix the problem. You need a third-party tool to recover your corrupted PST file.

Remo Repair Outlook is a data recovery tool designed specifically to repair corrupt Outlook profile. You can try this tool if Outlook is unable to open your PST file.

Remo Repair Outlook is available for Windows and Mac and is compatible with Outlook 2003 and the newer versions. Repairing a PST file using this tool is pretty easy as it comes with an intuitive user interface.

How to use Remo Repair Outlook to repair a corrupted PST file

The first thing you need to know before using Remo Repair Outlook it that is a paid tool. Demo version is available, but you won’t be able to restore the email content until you purchase the license. Remo Repair Outlook itself works by creating the exact replica of the PST file for repairing and keeps the original file intact. It doesn’t alter your original PST file during the repair process.

You can download the binary file of Remo Repair Outlook on its official website. Simply double-click the binary file to install it on your computer. Once installed, launch the app. Here is the main window of the Remo Repair Outlook.

There are three options displayed on the main window of Remo Repair Outlook.

• Open default PST file: You can select this option if you want Remo Repair Outlook to open the PST file associated with the Outlook profile.
• Select PST file manually: You can select this option if you know the location of your PST file for the Outlook version you have. If you want to open a backup file of your Outlook emails, you can select this option.
• Find all your PST files: You can use this option if you are not able to find the PST file or the file is not in the default location on your computer.

After selecting your option, you will be prompted to select the scanning method. There are two scanning methods offered by Remo Repair Outlook: Normal Scan and Smart Scan. Select a scanning method according to the damage level of your PST file. Also set the destination where your new PST file to be created and click the Repair button.

Click the Start Scan button to start the scanning process. Once the scanning process is done, you will see the following window if you use the demo version.

Next, launch Outlook and go to the File -> Open & Export and select the Open Outlook Data File button and select the PST file you have just successfully repaired on the step above.

Now go to the Inbox folder to see your emails. Again, you won’t see the email content until you buy the license of Remo Repair Outlook.

Final words

If you are attempting to rescue your corrupted PST file, Remo Repair Outlook is a great tool you can try. It is designed specifically to handle the job so the chance your PST file successfully gets fixed is high enough. If you are not convinced enough this tool will work as you expected, you can try its demo version and buy the license later once your PST file successfully gets fixed.