The short answer is… Aid4Mail. Compared to competing tools:
If you don’t have Aid4Mail yet, you can experiment with the free trial version or purchase a low-cost 2-week Aid4Mail Converter license. You’ll be up and running in minutes.
An OST file is created by Outlook for Windows when you connect to an Exchange or IMAP account. It acts as local storage to speed up mailbox access and reduce bandwidth usage. By default, it contains messages that are less than a year old.
An OST file no-longer associated with an Outlook profile is an “orphan”. This is because it can’t be opened by Microsoft Outlook. However, when converted to a PST file, the mailbox data becomes accessible again. By Outlook and also by other applications.
Aid4Mail can convert your OST file to a PST with or without Microsoft Outlook installed. However, you will get better performance when Outlook is present. Aid4Mail can also faithfully restore your folder structure.
Please follow the steps below. For any setting that’s not specifically mentioned, you can either use the default (preset) value or consult the Aid4Mail 5 User Guide for details. You can open it from Aid4Mail by pressing the F1 key.
C:\Users\<WINDOWS USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\
Select the Run button or Session > Run from the menu. Aid4Mail will convert your OST file to PST. It will automatically open the Progress tab so you can monitor what’s going on. Once finished, you will find full reports in the Progress log and, if relevant, the Error log.
You can do this by selecting File > Open > Outlook Data File from Outlook’s main menu (older versions of Outlook may use different menu names).
We hope these simple steps to convert OST to PST were helpful.
If you’re looking for further information, take a look at the FAQ below. You can also consult our knowledge base articles and the Aid4Mail 5 user guide. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to contact our award-winning Helpdesk.
If you’d like to buy an Aid4Mail license, please visit the online store.
Or if you’d like to Aid4Mail first before purchasing, download a free trial and run your own tests. We want you to have full confidence in Aid4Mail!
OST and PST are both Microsoft Outlook data files. OST files are typically used to store offline data from an Exchange server or Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Outlook.com or IMAP account. PST files were formerly used for this purpose in older versions of Outlook and are still used to store offline POP account data.
An OST file that is not associated with an Outlook account.
The main reason is that PST files can be imported into MS Outlook and OST files cannot. This is true for other email-related applications too and makes PST files good for:
Please follow the step-by-step instructions earlier in this article.
Yes! PST is the most common target format among Aid4Mail customers. It is used in:
Aid4Mail is a user-friendly Windows application that specializes in processing email: converting it from one format to another, searching it, and exporting it in useful ways.
There are a few manual methods to convert an OST file. Aid4Mail stands out from the crowd because its conversions are reliable and avoid data loss. Aid4Mail can recover mail from an OST, even if it’s damaged. And it can export to a whole range of file formats, email applications and services.
You can download a free trial of Aid4Mail from our downloads page. Licenses can be purchased from our online store.
Aid4Mail is installed with a a very comprehensive, context-sensitive user guide. Just press the F1 key while using Aid4Mail to open it.
There is also a whole range knowledge base articles and tutorials on our website. If you’re still stuck, contact our award-winning Helpdesk.
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