How to Resolve If the File is Not an Outlook Data File

Why the File You Chose Is Not An Outlook Data File?

A Personal Storage Table (PST) file is a type of Outlook data file used to store email, calendar and other mailbox items for POP3 accounts on your computer. PST files can be moved from one machine to another, allowing users to transfer Outlook data to another system.

However, users often report receiving the error message "PST file is not an Outlook data file" when opening or importing the PST file to the Outlook application installed on another machine. Before knowing the exact solution, you can first look at some possible causes of the error.

• Corrupted PST file
• Outlook application terminated abruptly
• The hard drive has bad sectors
• PST file is too large (over 50GB)

Quick Fixes to Resolve "The File Is Not An Outlook Data File”

Here are some quick fixes if you also want to know how to fix PST is not Outlook data file. Try to follow them to fix duplicate errors in your PST file.

#1. Uncheck the File 'Read-Only' Attribute

If you are trying to access a PST file saved on removable media, portable drive, or any other storage media, but you encounter the "PST is not an Outlook data file" issue, you can verify that the status of the PST file is set to read-only.

1. Right-click on the PST file and select Properties.
2. From the Properties window, in the General tab, make sure that the Read-only property is unchecked. If it is not, uncheck it and see if you can open the PST file.

#2. Copy the PST File to Another Location

If you encounter the error "The file you choose is not an Outlook data file", here is another solution. You can try copying the PST file from one location to another. After that, you can consider opening the PST file again. There are chances that you will not face this problem. However, if you still encounter the same error, move on to the next step.

#3. Try Repairing the File Using the Inbox Repair Utility

If you encounter the error "The file is not an Outlook data file", you can try to repair PST file to access its data. Use Microsoft built-in repair tool called Inbox Repair Tool (ScanPST.exe) to diagnose and fix Outlook data file error.

✨ Note: Before implementing the solution, first you have to locate ScanPST.exe. the location of Microsoft built-in tool scanPST.exe may vary with the version of Outlook. Below is the path of scanPST.exe for different versions of Outlook application.

• In Outlook 2019 (Office 365):

32-bit Version: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office19
64-bit Version: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office19

• In Outlook 2016:

32-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16
64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\

• In Outlook 2013:

32-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15
64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\

• In Outlook 2010:

32-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14
64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\

• In Outlook 2007:

32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12
64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\

Once you find scanPST.exe, run the program and follow the steps mentioned in the following section.

1. Double-click SCANPST.

2. The tool will start scanning the selected files. If it shows any errors, make sure that the "Make a backup of scanned file before repairing" checkbox is checked.

3. Click Repair. After successfully repairing the file, the "Repair Complete" message will appear. Click OK and try to access the repaired PST file.

Easier Way to Transfer Outlook Data to Any Other Place

After you have solved the "The File is not an Outlook Data" problem by the above method, I hope you will be able to access the PST file you want to open normally. Here I am going to introduce you an easier way to transfer Outlook data including emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, etc. AOMEI Backupper Professional is a reliable and professional email backup software that can help you a lot.

With its Outlook Backup feature, you can migrate Outlook data to other destinations, such as cloud services (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive), internal and external disks, USB drives, NAS devices, network locations, SD cards, etc.. It integrates a lot of backup features that are worth your trying.

If you want to backup Outlook, click the download button below to install AOMEI Backupper to your computer and run it.

Step 1. Open Outlook, type email and click Connect, then follow the on-screen instructions to add the Outlook account.

Step 2. Open this powerful backup software, click Backup and then Outlook Backup.

Step 3. Then follow the prompts to add the Outlook data you want to migrate and choose a safe place to store them.

Step 4. Click Start Backup to backup Outlook data immediately.

Final Words

We hope the 3 methods provided in this article can help you solve the error message "This file is not an Outlook data file". In daily work and life, email is an essential part. Therefore, after solving the problem, it is recommended that you immediately use the professional email backup software provided in this article to protect Outlook data. This backup software can also help you to transfer Outlook data, you can save it to USB, SD card, cloud server, or even external hard disk.