DataNumen Exchange Recovery

What is the difference between PST and OST files?

PST (Outlook Data File) stores the mailbox contents on your local computer, for POP accounts.

OST (Offline Outlook Data File) stores a synchronized copy of the mailbox contents on your local computer, for most other account types, such as IMAP accounts(e.g. Outlook.com, GMail.com, Hotmail.com, etc.), Microsoft 365 accounts, and Exchange accounts.

How to open or import OST files in Outlook?

MS Outlook cannot open or import OST files directly. To access the mailbox data inside an offline OST file, you need to use our OST to PST converter to perform the conversion of OST files to PST files, and then open or import the PST files in Outlook.

Why do I need to convert OST file to PST file format?

There are many cases you need to perform the conversion, including:

1. MS Exchange server crashes due to various reasons.
2. The Exchange mailbox becomes inactive and you need to access the orphaned OST file.
3. You cannot connect to the Exchange server, such as system maintenance, downtime, dismission, etc.
4. Recover deleted emails from the Outlook OST file.
5. Open or access the OST file data from another Outlook profile.
6. Data migration from one computer to another.
7. You are using an old version of Outlook and the OST file size reaches 2GB limit.

Use OST to PST converter, you can access the OST mailbox data directly in Outlook.

Is there a free way to convert OST file to PST format?

Yes, if you can still access the mailbox data in the OST file, then you can use the manual method to export OST file to PST file, as follows:

1. 1. Start Outlook.
   2. Click File > Open & Export.
   3. Click the Import/Export option.
   4. In the Import and Export Wizard dialog box, choose Export to a file and click Next.
   5. Select Outlook Data File (.pst) as the file type and click Next.
   6. Select the folder to export from, and make sure Include subfolders is checked. Then click Next.
   7. Set the path of the output PST file.
   8. Click Finish.
   9. If the Outlook PST file does not exist, Outlook will create a new one. It will pop up a dialog box asking you to input the optional password for the new PST file. Just leave it empty and click the OK button.

Then Outlook will export the OST file to the PST file, which can be opened or imported from Outlook later. However, if you are unable to access the orphaned OST file, then you need to use our conversion tool to do the task.

Does your tool need to connect to the Exchange server to convert OST to PST file?

No. It does not need to connect to the Exchange server to perform the OST to PST conversion.

What makes your tool stand out from other OST to PST converters?

Our tool has the best recovery rate and the most comprehensive features among all the OST to PST converters in the industry. You can see the comparison between it and other competitors.

Can your software convert OST emails to .msg files?

Each MSG file stored only one email. It is called Outlook Message Format. It has two variants, i.e., non-Unicode format and Unicode format. Both will use .msg as the file extension.

If you want to export emails in an offline OST file as .msg files, please do as follows:

1. Convert the OST file to a PST file via our file converter.
2. Start Outlook.
3. Open the PST file in Outlook.
4. Double-click to open the email you want to convert.
5. Click File -> Save to save the email as an Outlook Message Format or Outlook Message Format – Unicode.
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for all OST emails you want to export as .msg files.

Can your software CONVERT OST emails to .eml/.XML files?

Each EML file stores only one email. The email contents are saved as Internet Message Format.

XML(Extensible Markup Language) file can also be used to store an email.

If you want to export all emails in an offline OST file as .eml/.xml files, you need to do as follows:

1. Export the wanted emails to .msg format. Both non-Unicode and Unicode formats are OK.
2. Based on the bitness of your Outlook, download the corresponding version of MFCMAPI. For the 32bit version of Outlook, you need to download the one without the x64 tag. And for the 64bit version, you need to download the one with the x64 tag.
3. Start MFCMAPI.
4. Click Advanced -> Import/Export -> Convert MSG to EML or Convert MSG to XML to convert to .eml/.xml format.
5. Keep all the default values, click the OK button.
6. Select the .msg file you saved in step 1.
7. Set the .eml/.xml file name and location, then click Save.
8. Now you have successfully saved one email in .eml/.xml format.
9. Repeat step 1 to 8 for all emails you want to export as .eml/.xml files.

Can your tool convert OST mailbox to MBOX format?

MBOX format just concatenates all messages in plain text format. To convert OST mailbox to MBOX format, take the steps below:

1. Use our file converter to convert the Exchange OST file to PST file format.
2. Use an email client Thunderbird to import the PST file and convert it to MBOX format.

Can your tool convert OST contacts to vCard files?

vCard file is also called Virtual Contact File(VCF) file. It is the standard for electronic business cards.

To convert OST contacts to vCard files, please do as follows:

1. Convert the OST file to a PST file via our tool.
2. Start Outlook.
3. Open the PST file in Outlook.
4. Double-click to open the contact you want to convert.
5. Click File -> Save to save the contact as vCard files (*.vcf) format.
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for all OST contacts you want to export as .vcf files.

How long will it take to complete the conversion process?

This depends on many factors, including:

• Outlook OST file size.
• The number of items in the OST file.
• The complexity of the OST file.
• The performance of your computer system.

Normally for a 10GB OST file, it will take about 2 to 3 hours to convert it to a PST file on a 64bit modern computer.

Can your tool recover corrupt OST files?

Yes, our tool can recover data from corrupt or damaged OST files and output them into a PST file.

Are there any data losses during the conversion process?

If your OST file is not corrupt, then there will be no data loss. All the items in the original OST file will be converted and saved into the new PST file. If your OST file is corrupt, then all unaffected data can be converted. For the affected data, they will also be recovered in the maximum possibility.

What is the limitation of the free demo version, when compared with the full version?

The only limitation is that the demo version will replace the message body with a brief demo text, while the full version will output the actual recovered contents.

Which Windows versions are required?

Currently, our OST converter tool supports all Windows OS versions, including Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 and Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019. And it supports both 32bit & 64bit systems.

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