Archiving (automatic or manual) in Microsoft Outlook helps you to enhance applications’ performance and optimize storage by moving older emails and other items to a separate (archive) PST file. It keeps your current mailbox clean and organized while preserving older items for future reference.
The archived PST comes in handy when you migrate data to a new system or Outlook, reinstall the Outlook application or want to restore old mail items. In this article, we will discuss how to recover archived PST files in classic Outlook and new Outlook.
Recovering the Archived PST File in Outlook
Before proceeding, you should know the location of archived PST file. By default, the Outlook PST files are located in C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\Outlook Files. You can even find the archive.pst file from the File Explorer.
You need to also ensure that the folder, in which the archived PST file is stored, is accessible and has all the permissions. Now, follow the below steps to recover the archived PST file in Outlook:
- Open your Outlook application.
- Next, click File > Open & Export and then click Open Outlook Data File.
- Browse to the location where the archived PST file is saved and select it. Click OK.
- You will see the folders of the archived PST file in the folder list in the left pane.
You can move individual or all items from the archive PST file to the original or a new folder. For this, go to the Archives folder, and drag and drop email items into the Inbox or another folder.
Import Archived PST File into New Outlook
According to the latest Microsoft 365 roadmap, new Outlook still does not support direct importing of PST files. However, Microsoft is currently working to expand its capabilities. It is planning to add support for importing PST files directly into new Outlook for Windows from October 2025. The current status of this feature is marked as “in development”.
If you need to import an archived PST file into new Outlook, then there is a workaround. You can switch to the classic Outlook, import the archived PST file and then return to the new Outlook. This will integrate the archived messages into your mailbox. Let’s see how:
- Open your new Outlook and click on the toggle switch at the top right corner to switch to the classic version.
- In the classic outlook, go to File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
- Select Import from another program or file and click Next.
- Choose the Archived Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
- Browse to the location of your PST file, select it, and select how you need to manage duplicates.
- Click Next and then Finish.
- Once the import process is complete, switch back to the new Outlook using the same toggle switch.
What to do if the Archived PST File Restore Fails?
Sometimes you will fail to restore or import the archived PST file. This usually happens if the PST file is corrupted. In such a case, you can use the Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (also known as ScanPST) to repair the damaged or corrupted archived PST file. It can fix minor corruption issues in the PST file. Here are the steps to use this tool:
- Go to the location of the Inbox repair tool. It is usually stored in the installation directory of your Outlook. However, its location varies based on the version of the Outlook application.
- Right-click on ScanPST and select Run as Administrator to launch it.
- On the Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool dialog box, enter the name of the corrupt PST file you want to repair or simply click Browse.
- Choose the corrupted PST file and click Start.
- The ScanPST tool will begin checking the file for errors.
- The errors (if any) will be displayed after the file scan is finished. Next, select the "Make backup of the scanned file before repairing" checkbox. Then, select the Repair option.
- A dialog box displaying the message “Repair complete” appears after the repair operation is finished. Click OK.
The Inbox Repair tool or SCANPST.exe can easily fix minor corruption issues in the PST file. However, if the file is severely corrupted, you may need to run this tool multiple times to repair it completely.
Also, SCANPST.exe may freeze or stop responding while repairing the PST file. If the PST file large or severely corrupted, you can use a professional PST repair tool, like Stellar Repair for Outlook.
This tool can easily repair PST file in any state or condition without any file size restrictions. It can also repair password-protected PST file and restore all the mailbox items including deleted items, to a new PST file while maintaining the data integrity. The tool is compatible with all Outlook versions, such as Outlook 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.
Conclusion
In this post, we have outlined the steps to recover archived PST file in Outlook. If you fail to recover or access the emails and other mail items in the archived PST file, it might be due to corruption in the file. In this case, use the in-built repair tool in Outlook, called ScanPST, to repair the PST file.
If it fails to repair the PST file due to large file size or severe corruption, use a powerful PST repair tool — Stellar Repair for Outlook — that can quickly repair damaged or corrupted archived PST file and restore all the data with complete integrity.