How to recreate OST files in Microsoft Outlook?

Ashish Singh

Updated On - April 1, 2024

Outlook data files such as OST or PST are used to store data such as emails, notes, contacts, attachments, tasks, and others in Microsoft Outlook. An OST file is a local copy of your mailbox items that remain synchronized with the Exchange server. It enables you to access your mailbox even when you are not connected to the server. Once the connection is restored, any changes you make will sync automatically.

But in most situations, due to inaccessible or corrupted OST files, several issues are found in the Outlook applications, like application crashes or inappropriate behavior. As a result, OST file synchronization stops, and Outlook will start displaying error messages. You do not need to worry; it can be fixed by recovering or recreating a new OST file.

Reasons behind inaccessible OST files

Damaged or inaccessible OST file leads to data loss. Here are eight reasons that illustrate the cause of inaccessible OST files:

• Network issues during mailbox synchronization.
• Forced Outlook termination or system shutdown without closing Outlook.
• Incompatible or faulty add-ins.
• Large size OST files.
• Bad sectors or problems with the storage media.
• Virus or malware intrusion.
• Improper installation or configuration of Outlook profile.
• Power outage during the mailbox synchronization.

If you encounter any issues with your OST file, a simple solution you can try is to recreate the file. When you rename or delete your OST file, Outlook will automatically recreate the OST file.

Note: Remember to take a backup of the original OST file before proceeding.

Let’s look at the different approaches for recreating the OST files.

OST files are offline copies of Exchange user mailboxes that can be retrieved from the Exchange server if deleted.
Note: This process is given for Microsoft Outlook 2013 & 2016 versions.
Follow the simple steps to execute it.

1. Close the Outlook application.
2. Open the Control Panel and go to Mail
3. In the Mail Setup wizard, click on the Email Accounts option.
4. Select the Data Files tab followed by the OST file and click on the Open File Location.
5. Right-click on the OST file and Delete the file.

Note: Close the Account Settings and Mail Setup windows before deleting the file; otherwise, the system will display an error message.

6. Start the application again. It will automatically create an OST file.

By changing the file extension of an OST file, you are able to create a backup of your OST file. It is one of the safest ways to recreate the OST file.

1. Close the Outlook window and enable the ‘File name extensions ‘option from the View menu in File Explorer.
2. Right-click on the OST file and tap on Rename.
3. Rename the OST file end with the name of .bak.
4. Now, open Outlook. It recreates the OST file and starts synchronizing all messages from the server’s mailbox.

You may also move the OST file (cut/paste) from its location to a different folder to rebuild the OST file. Close Outlook before moving or deleting the OST file. Otherwise, you may see errors.

Recreating the OST file will work only when the Outlook account and Exchange server perfectly sync. If there are network issues, then it is challenging for the user to recreate the OST file. Therefore, we recommend taking a professional way to recover the corrupt OST file. Recoveryfix for OST to PST Converter is the best tool to retrieve data from the corrupted OST files and save it in a new healthy PST file. It recovers and converts Outlook OST files to PST, MSG, DBX, and EML formats. Even convert the large OST files to PST without losing their original quality and integrity.

Final note

In this article, we provided you with valuable insights about different causes of inaccessible OST files. We have given effective manual methods to fix it by recreating a new OST file. However, manual solutions are challenging or time-consuming. Also, it won’t ensure error-free conversion of your data. Therefore, you should go for an automated Recoveryfix for OST to PST tool, which makes the whole process easy and convenient for the user.