Best Way to Open an .OST File in Outlook 2013

[CougTek]

I have a bunch of .ost files that are stored on users' systems and that I don't know how to open. They aren't the files pushed by the Exchange Server (2010 in this case) when you create an account. They are remnants of past accounts and still contains relevant messages.

I've read about OST to PST converters, but those are expensive. I might have to use it on tens of different system (inherited the shit created by someone else).

What would be the best way to do this?

Thanks.

 

[Mercutio]

Are these clients still part of an Exchange-managed organization? I think you can just attach the .OST files per this. You might have to do some screwing around with re-naming files to get them to open.

 

[CougTek]

Are these clients still part of an Exchange-managed organization? I think you can just attach the .OST files per this. You might have to do some screwing around with re-naming files to get them to open.

The client is still part of the organization, but there are 2 .ost files in \users\username\appdata\local\microsoft\outlook. Only one of those (the smaller one, containing only 2 years of e-mails) is used by Outlook. The larger and older one is simply ignored. The larger .ost file doesn't have the same name than the smaller one.

I've tried to open the file and also to import it, but Outlook only wants to do this with .pst files.

There was an active rule specifying that messages more than 2 years were to be archived on the organization's Exchange 2010 server. There is no archive database on the Exchange 2010 server and most e-mails older than 2 years old have vanished. No idea where they went. I've consulted with a few other admins and they don't know either.

 

[Mercutio]

Here's my idea:

Put Outlook into offline mode
Close Outlook.
Change the name of the "good" .ost.
Copy the "bad" .ost to the good one's old name.
Open Outlook.

Export the messages to a .pst.
Close Outlook. Rename the "good" file back to its old name.

That might work.

 

[Chewy509]

Something else to try - simply rename the .ost to .pst, and try to import the file. (PST and OST internally both use the same data structures to store mail, so it might work. Similar in a way to WMV and WMA, as they both use the same file format).

 

[CougTek]

Something else to try - simply rename the .ost to .pst, and try to import the file. (PST and OST internally both use the same data structures to store mail, so it might work. Similar in a way to WMV and WMA, as they both use the same file format).

That did not work.

Here's my idea:

Put Outlook into offline mode
Close Outlook.
Change the name of the "good" .ost.
Copy the "bad" .ost to the good one's old name.
Open Outlook.

Export the messages to a .pst.
Close Outlook. Rename the "good" file back to its old name.

That might work.

And it did.

Thank you both for your suggestions.

 

[Mercutio]

I've wasted too much damned time dealing with Outlook misfeatures. Glad you got it.

 

[ddrueding]

Now, do future you a favor and move all machines you support off Exchange and Outlook. It took 7 years, but I've been free of this garbage for 8 years now and loving it.

 

[Chewy509]

Glad one of the suggestions worked!

 

[Howell]

Yay, that's one for the good guys.

 

[Howell]

Btw, Unless it's a laptop that travels it is recommended to turn off caching.