How do I open an archived ost file?

[Guest]

I have several .ost and .pst files in an Outlook archive file. I need to
look in the ost files to find an attachment to an email from a couple of
years ago. How can I open/read that file?

 

[Guest]

Use File, Open Outlook Data File on the menu in Outlook. OL will show all
available files on your hard drive. You must open pst/ost files from within
OL and the file must be on your hard drive, not removable media.

 

[Guest]

Use File, Open Outlook Data File on the menu in Outlook. OL will show all
available files on your hard drive. You must open pst/ost files from within
OL and the file must be on your hard drive, not removable media.

 

[Guest]

Thanks! My .ost file is on an Iomega desktop hard drive - not removable, but
not my C drive. There isn't enough room for the .ost file on my hard drive -
that's why I moved it to the Iomega in the first place. Did you mean it has
to be on the C dirve, or can it be on my E drive if that drive is not
removable?
Outlook does show the .pst files in the same folder on the Iomega drive, as
that is where I archive emails from my Excahnge Server. It just won't show
the .ost files.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have several .ost and .pst files in an Outlook archive file. I
need to look in the ost files to find an attachment to an email from
a couple of years ago. How can I open/read that file?

What I think you're saying is that you have some backup program that has
places several OSTs and PSTs in one of its container files. To get them out
again, consult the documentation for the backup program.

After restoring them to disk, you can start Outlook and click
FIle>Open>Outlook Data File, browse to a PST, select it, and click OK. You
cannot do that for an OST, however. To open an OST, you need to have an
Exchange account associated with the OST in the mail profile. If you do,
you can start Outlook , switch to offline mode, then copy the contents of
the offline folders to a PST. Otherwise, you can obtain a tool that will
convert an OST to a PST. like
http://www.stellarinfo.com/exchange-ost-recovery.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Brian. I simply copied these five or six files from my C drive to
the Iomega drive (E. I can't copy them back because there is nowhere near
enough room on the C disk. I think I am going to have to archive more stuff
off my C disk and then use the tool you suggested.
Thanks to both of you!

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks, Brian. I simply copied these five or six files from my C
drive to the Iomega drive (E. I can't copy them back because
there is nowhere near enough room on the C disk.

You should be able to open PSTs directly from the Iomega drive, since it is
a read/write device. Click File>Open>Outlook Data File, browse to the PST
on the E drive, select it, and click OK.

 

[Guest]

What I think you're saying is that you have some backup program that has
places several OSTs and PSTs in one of its container files. To get them out
again, consult the documentation for the backup program.

After restoring them to disk, you can start Outlook and click
FIle>Open>Outlook Data File, browse to a PST, select it, and click OK. You
cannot do that for an OST, however. To open an OST, you need to have an
Exchange account associated with the OST in the mail profile. If you do,
you can start Outlook , switch to offline mode, then copy the contents of
the offline folders to a PST. Otherwise, you can obtain a tool that will
convert an OST to a PST. like
http://www.stellarinfo.com/exchange-ost-recovery.htm

Hi Brian Tillman,

thank for your information, I want open .ost file without tool, in this case:
+ Have ost file, but no exchange ( it is mean, exchange die)( can or not?)

I tested with this way,
+ I installed new exchange and created user like before, but can not open.

if can, pls show me how to open ost file without tool.
thank you so much.

 

[Brian Tillman]

if can, pls show me how to open ost file without tool.

You can't. Unless you have the original mail profile in which the Exchange
account was defined, there is no way to reuse the OST without purchasing a
tool to convert it to a PST.

 

[Guest]

where can i buy such a tool? i have the same problem.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Google is your friend.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Kate asked:

| where can i buy such a tool? i have the same problem.
|
| "Brian Tillman" wrote:
|
||
||| if can, pls show me how to open ost file without tool.
||
|| You can't. Unless you have the original mail profile in which the
|| Exchange account was defined, there is no way to reuse the OST
|| without purchasing a tool to convert it to a PST.
|| --
|| Brian Tillman