Throughout his career, he has covered complex concepts and provided accessible solutions for users. Before joining Secure Data, he worked as a freelance technical writer. If you moved your data file or its location changed somehow, Outlook might not be able to find disable faulty add-ins in Outlook it.

Fixing 'Outlook Data File Cannot Be Accessed' Error on PC

That way, you can access previously downloaded or synchronized messages, as well as calendar information, contacts, and tasks even when you’re offline. In this step-by-step guide, you’ll find practical methods to resolve the error and recover your rebuild Outlook data file quickly data, whether you’re dealing with a corrupted file or a disconnected profile. The error message indicates corruption in the Outlook data (PST) file. However, the error may also occur due to various other reasons.

• This could help if you’re dealing with configuration issues but the file itself is okay.
• I tried using the repair process (SCANPST.EXE) which appeared to detect issues but also appeared to complete a successful repair, but the issue persists.
• Creating new Outlook profile or rebooting the computer fixes the issue.
• Before joining Secure Data, he worked as a freelance technical writer.
• Then, in the next window, make sure you're on the tab marked "Sync and backup".

Stack Exchange Network

By default, the Outlook data file resides in your local user's \"Documents\" folder. So you'll want to make sure OneDrive is not syncing that folder. By default, the Outlook data file resides in your local user's "Documents" folder. In the Folder Pane, you might see a folder named Recovered Personal Folders that contains your default Outlook folders or a Lost and Found folder. Although the repair process might recreate some of the folders, they may be empty. The Lost and Found folder contains any folders and items recovered by the repair tool that Outlook can't place in their original structure.

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During the syncing process, OneDrive locks the file, which prevents Outlook from accessing it, resulting in the "Outlook data file cannot be opened" error. You can try to repair Outlook data files to fix the error. This is a good solution if you think your data file might be corrupted. MS Outlook stores all the information related to your email account both online and in a local file on your computer.

Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)

You can use the Inbox Repair tool (SCANPST.EXE) to diagnose and repair errors in your Outlook data file. The Inbox Repair tool checks the Outlook data files on your computer to see if they're in good shape. It can recover all the mailbox items from the corrupted file and save them to a new PST file, which you can import into your Outlook profile. It can also allow saving the recovered PST data to other file formats, like MSG, EML, HTML, RTF, and PDF.

Method 2 - Manually create an IMAP or POP3 email account

Sometimes, data files get corrupted in a way that none of the methods above can help. This might happen due to a power failure or improper shutdown, hardware issues, or viruses and malware. This could happen if, for example, OneDrive backs up your Documents folder Repair Outlook Profile Online to the cloud and includes the Outlook Files folder where the file is located.