Outlook.pst file disappeared

[Rick Inca]

Help! I recently opened Outlook to check mail / schedule, etc. and it gave
me the following error:
"Outlook could no open the file containing the folders used to send and
receive e-mail messages, create appointments, and open the address book.
Please select from the optons listed below."
And it gave me two options: "Create a new personal folders file" and "Open
an existing personal folders file"

Thinking this was odd, I went to look for my outlook.pst file in the
c:\documents & settings\username\local settings\application
data\microsoft\outlook directory and found the archive.pst and extend.dat
files. The outlook.pst file was there, but it was at 0 KB.

I did a search on the whole drive for *.pst (including hidden files), but
could not find it anywhere.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Did you include hidden folders too, or just hidden files? Typically later
versions of Outlook store .PST files in hidden folders by default.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

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[Brian Tillman]

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]

Did you include hidden folders too, or just hidden files? Typically
later versions of Outlook store .PST files in hidden folders by
default.

He must have done, since he found the other files in that folder and he
found the PST (but with a zero size).

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thinking this was odd, I went to look for my outlook.pst file in the
c:\documents & settings\username\local settings\application
data\microsoft\outlook directory and found the archive.pst and
extend.dat files. The outlook.pst file was there, but it was at 0 KB.

Unless you've made periodic backups, you're screwed, it would seem.
Something truncated your PST.

 

[Rick Inca]

Thank you. Yes, my search did include hidden folders and files.

And to make it clearer, I am using Outlook 2000 on Windows XP Home.


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"