Hi everybody, today we are going to discuss how to repair and speed up Outlook. It happens to all of us you are trying to open your e-mails and Outlook is working so slow it is almost painful. Outlook works with a proprietary file system called a PST file. These files are great when they work as intended but they often can get corrupted especially when you are trying to save lots of e-mails. When a PST file gets corrupted or if you are trying to save too much e-mail, your Outlook may not open. Fortunately, Microsoft included a small utility called Scanpst.exe This utility is hidden so you have to look for it in order to run it.
In most new versions of Outlook the utility is located is located in the Program Files folder. Here is how to access it. First, go to Computer and open your C Drive. Once your C Drive is open, look for a file called Program Files and open the folder. Once the folder is open, look for a folder called Microsoft Office. Once you are in and browsing this folder, look for a folder named OFFICE12. Once you locate the folder, go ahead and open it as well. Here you will see many files but as you scroll you will see a file called Scanpst.exe. This is the file that we will need to open.
Once you have located your Scanpst.exe file you will need to double click on it like you would any other executable file. You will see a small box open with a Browse button to locate your PST file with. Hit the browse button and navigate to Cusersyour account nameLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook. Here you might see several files. Unless you have changed it, the default file will be Outlook.pst. This is the file to choose. Once chosen, click the Start button. Be patient as this scan could take a long time. The program will automatically create a back up of your PST file before proceeding. If you already have a backup and you do not need this feature, uncheck the backup option.
This will allow the repair process to complete faster. Once all the files are analyzed and checked, if the system finds errors in any of the files, the Repair option will appear. Hit the repair button and the utility will do it’s magic in repairing your Outlook files. Be advised that this could take some time so be patient. It might appear at times that the tool is frozen or not responding but this is normal. Try not to do any other work on the computer while this process is taking place.
Once the process is complete you can close the utility and try to open Outlook. If your program opens, you are done and ready to go again. At this point I would recommend cleaning your Outlook out to regain some space in your PST file. This will help keep the file from getting corrupted again and it will allow Outlook to work faster.
Once you have done some housekeeping, you might want to compact your database to further increase your Outlook speed. This is easily done while Outlook is open. Find your main Personal Folders text in the left display pane within Outlook. Right click on it. In the context menu that opens click on properties. Once the Properties box open’s, click on Advanced.
Here you will see a button that says Compact Now. Click on that button. Be advised that if it has been a long time since you ran this tool, it could take a very long time to run. Think of this tool as a defrag for Outlook. Once completed, you can close the box, restart Outlook and you should enjoy a much faster experience with your e-mail program. Please be advised that the program often will appear to be frozen at times and it could take a very long time to complete.
Author: Joe Zelenak, Staff Writer
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