Microsoft Outlook is a stable software program, at the best of times. It does not crash that easily. However, just like any other software, it is also vulnerable to issues. When facing a problem, MS Outlook issues error messages. The "Outlook PST cannot be found" error is such an error message that is displayed by the software if it cannot locate a PST file on the system. How do you fix the "Outlook data file cannot be found"? In this post, you can get 5 viable solutions to fix the PST file missing issue.
If your Outlook PST file can't be opened, you should turn to the checklist: Repair "Outlook PST Cannot Be Opened".
Why outlook.pst cannot be found in Windows 10
PST, short for Personal Storage Table, is an Outlook data file that is used to store your messages, events, and contacts. Before fixing the "Outlook data file cannot be found" error, you have to determine the cause of the Outlook issue and take a specific measure. The Outlook PST file missing issue can be caused by many factors.
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Corruption of the PST file.
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Mailbox has exceeded its size limit and bring issues with the Office program.
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The conflict between the Outlook software and the other software that has recently been installed on the computer.
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The PST file is temporarily located in the Network server and thus becomes unavailable.
Several factors can cause a PST file to get corrupted. For instance, the presence of viruses and malicious software on the system, unexpected shutdown of the Outlook software, and improper shutdown of the PC can all lead to the corruption of the PST file. Besides, the bad sectors on the C drive or large-sized Outlook data file can result in the corrupted and thus missing PST file in Outlook.
Method 1. Check Your Outlook
To fix the "Outlook PST file can't be found" error, the first way is to check your Outlook and the computer software that is installed recently. It can help resolve the issue caused by an excessive mailbox or the conflict between different software on your computer.
If your mailbox is overloaded with too much necessary or unimportant data, it might cause the PST file corruption, and thus you can't find it anymore. Thus, you should remove some of the Outlook files and don't exceed the size limit of 15GB. Here are some measures that you can use to view the mailbox size and restore the missing PST file.
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Option 1: Go to File > Mailbox Cleanup > View Mailbox Size.
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Option 2: Click your account under the Folder tab at the top of the Outlook screen. Go to Folder Properties > Folder Size.
In the pop-up window, you can see how much size is used and what's occupying your mailbox storage. After checking the mailbox storage, you can decide if it is necessary to delete some of Outlook data files and even empty some folders, for example:
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Junk folder.
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Deleted items.
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Unnecessary emails from your inbox.
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Emails with unimportant files, attachments, or images.
Method 2. Create A New PST File
Creating a new PST file is one of the methods that can be used to fix the "Outlook can't find PST file" error. It requires you to generate a brand new PST file. You will have to make use of the Mail Setup Wizard to do the same. How do I create a PST in Outlook 2016? It involves following a few simple steps to generate a new PST file.
Step 1. Locate the default PST file
To generate a new Outlook PST file, you have to confirm the file location, so that you can save it in the right path that can be used by Outlook software. And the navigation is very easy. Three options are available.
Option 1: Go to the home page and right-click "Archives" on the left panel. Select "Open File Location" and you can locate the Outlook data file.
Option 2: Go to Control Panel > Mail > Mail Setup-Outlook. Select "Show Profiles" > "Properties" > "Data Files". In the Account Settings dialog box, you can find the .ost file and .pst file locations. Copy the location or directly click "Open File Location" to locate the Outlook data file.
Step 2. Create a new Outlook data file
To generate a brand new Outlook data file, the Mail Setup wizard is still an important tool you need. In the Account Settings dialog box, select "Add" under the tab of "Data Files". In the next pop-up window, click "Ok"
Then, you should set the newly created .pst file as the default.
Select the new file.
Click "Set as Default".
Close the Mail Setup wizard.
Restart Microsoft Outlook.
Method 3. Repair PST Using MS Inbox Repair Utility
An Inbox Repair Utility has been provided in the MS Outlook software by Microsoft. You can use it to fix the "Outlook.pst cannot be found" error. It involves the use of the "scanpst.exe". You will have to execute this program by finding it in the Office folders. Once it has been executed, this utility is going to scan the corrupted PST file. If it finds out any errors in it, it will ask you to initiate the repair process. On finishing the Outlook repair, you can start the Outlook software to see if the repair has fixed the error message or not.
The Outlook PST file repair with Inbox Repair Utility is an intuitive process. But you might have trouble launching "scanpst.exe". Generally, you can navigate the program by searching one of the following paths through the Run Command or the searching box.
Note: Path 1 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16
Path 2 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16.
However, please note that the file path can vary from the Outlook version to the Outlook version. If you're not sure, you can also navigate it step by step.
1. Select "Local Disk (C)" in the File Explorer.
2. Choose "Program Files (x86)" and "Microsoft Office".
3. Find Office16 or Office15/14/13.
4. Find the program file - "scanpst.exe".
Method 4. Repair Corrupted Outlook PST File with Third-party PST Repair Software
If the three methods that have been mentioned above aren’t able to fix the "Outlook data file cannot be found" error, you might have to consider using third-party Repair software to repair the corruption of the PST file. While there are a lot of third-party repair tools available on the internet that claim to perform this task, most of them fail at it miserably. The only utility that has been recommended to repair the PST file safely is Wondershare Repairit for Email.
This software supports recovery and repairs your emails, attachments, contact notes, and other items. You can save the recovered emails in the formats of EML, MSG, RTF, HTML, and PDF. Besides, after repairing your Outlook PST file, it allows you to encrypt and protect them with passwords.
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Repair damaged PST&OST Files in Outlook in all Email corruption scenarios, such as hard disk crashes & bad sectors, virus attacks & tojan horse, outlook corruption & malfunctions, improper shutdown procedure, etc.
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Restore Outlook Emails deleted for a long time with a very high success rate.
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Repair emails in bathes without size limits and support to preview all of them before saving.
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Compatible with Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11, Windows Server 2012/2016/2019, and MacOS X 10.11~ MacOS 12 (Monterey).
Please follow the instructions below to use it.
Step 1: Launch and upload Outlook PST Files.
Run Repairit on your PC/Mac and add your corrupted Outlook PST files.
Step 2: Start to repair.
By clicking the "Find" button to upload your corrupted Outlook PST files and click the "Repair" button to start the repair process.
It will take a while to complete, but you can see the progress on the Repairit window.
Step 3: Preview and save Outlook files.
After the repair process finishes, the repaired Outlook PST data is displayed on the window. Preview all details and save them locally by clicking the "Save" button.
Method 5. A Video Tutorial Guide for "Outlook PST Cannot Be Found Error" in Windows 11
The "Outlook.pst cannot be found" error can be very frustrating for a user to see on his computer screen. Usually, this error message is caused due to the corruption of the PST file. There are a few methods that you can use to solve the question of "How do I restore a PST file?" The best option for repairing missing PST files is to use Wondershare Repairit for Email. It is the most effortless and safest method. Moreover, it can also fix Outlook error 0x8004060C.
