repairing outlook.pst errors

[ibeme39]

I am having trouble with “Outlook 2003â€. The OS is XP SP2.

Every time I open Outlook I get a message saying, “The Data File ‘Personal
Folders†was not closed properly. The file is being checked for problems.â€

I discovered “scanpst.exe†(Inbox Repair Tool) and ran it. It went through
phases 1 – 8 and found errors in the file. I said “repairâ€. It wanted to
make a backup copy of “personal folders†to which I said OK.

After clicking “repair†nothing seemed to be happening. I clicked “repairâ€
again and got a message that the program was not responding..

Currently when I try to open outlook I get the message, “The Data File
‘Personal Folders†was not closed properly. The file is being checked for
problems.†It goes through the checking and opens “Outlook†but I can’t get
any new emails and the program becomes inoperable. I can’t change to
contacts or calendar.

The “outlook*.bak†file is 2,139,513 KB

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ted

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I am having trouble with “Outlook 2003â€. The OS is XP SP2. ....snip...
Every time I open Outlook I get a message saying, “The Data File ‘Personal
Folders†was not closed properly. The file is being checked for problems.â€
The “outlook*.bak†file is 2,139,513 KB

If you can try to let scanpst finish, do so. However, perhaps your PST is
an old-format PST. Start Outlook and when it completes its checking, click
File>Data File Management. Select your PST and choose Settings. Examine
the Format field. What does it say?

 

[ibeme39]

Thanks Brian. Once I just let scanpst finish everything returned to normal.
I appreciate your help.
Ted