Microsoft Outlook is one of the most commonly used email clients among the professional as well as regular users. This email client simply helps users to manage multiple email accounts with the help of single panel. The PST files act as the Outlook Data Files. Therefore, these data files stores all the data items of the Outlook including calendars, contacts, tasks, etc. If users want to open archive.pst without Outlook, then it is mandatory for them to have MS Outlook installed on the system. This blog describes the best possible approaches to open Outlook Data file PST. Read this blog in detail to perform this task in more simpler and easy manner and that too without consuming much time.
PST files also have file size limitation issues just like other formats. Therefore, these files also create the issue if this file size is exceeded. That is why, to overcome this issue, users sometimes use Archive or AutoArchive feature of Microsoft Outlook. This feature removes old messages which are stored in the personal folders of Outlook. And, these archived or removed messages are stored in the Archive.pst file on the user’s local machine. So, in any case, if anyone wants to read these file without Outlook, then they are simply required to open Archive PST file.
How to Locate & Open Archive.pst Without Outlook
The Manual Approach to read archive.pst is performed in two different steps. The first one will be regarding the location of the Archive PST file and the second one will help the users to restore archive Outlook messages.
Locate Outlook Archive PST File
If MS Outlook PST file is not present in your Outlook profile, then read the below discussed steps to perform this task without any hassle.
1.Open MS Outlook on your system.
2.Now, click on File → Open and open PST file.
Most of the times, performing these steps help the users to directly open the particular folder where the Outlook Archive PST file is stored.
But, another possible scenario is that the Archive PST file is not stored in the same folder where all other Outlook PST files are stored. In that scenario, users can track the location of the Archive PST file from the AutoArchive settings. To perform this, users have to follow the below-discussed commands:
1. Click Tools → Options → Other → AutoArchive dialog and then simply copy the path of the Outlook Archive Data file in order to open Archive.pst.
2. If any user is using MS Outlook 2010 or 2007, then users can just open *.pst file by just navigating to the Account Settings options → Click on Data Files tab. Similarly, in Outlook 2003, users are required to click on File option and then click on Data File Management command.
3.Now, navigate to Add →click OK option in order to choose the create open Outlook Data file option. After that, you can select the Archive PST file and once again, click onto add the PST file in your profile.
Note: Users are always advised not to use Import & Export command to import Archived file in MS Outlook. However, if any user performs this, then he or she can archive all data once again which results in duplicacy.
Techniques to Restore Archived Messages
If any user is looking for a solution to restore and open Archive.pst file without Outlook, then they have to move the data stored in the Archive PST file to Outlook. Although, they are suggested never to use import and export command for it. In that case, users are first instructed to open archive file in Outlook and then are asked to choose the folder which they want to export. Then, they can either run Move to the folder command or they can just drag it to the desired folder.
However, if any user opts the Import or copy command, then the last modification date is changed. On the other hand, using the move to the folder command will not modify the last modified date as it is really important because whenever the user archive emails again, then by default, MS Outlook opts the last modified date.
Professional Approach to Open Archive.pst Without Outlook
The above-discussed Manual Solution will only work in the case if Microsoft Outlook is installed on the user’s machine. It fails if the MS Outlook is not installed on the user’s system. In such scenarios, users are required to go for any other Professional Approach. One such tool is SysTools PST Viewer Freeware. This software helps users to open Archive.pst without Outlook. It also allows users to read data from active and Archive Outlook Data files in an effortless manner.
The Last Note
Most of the time, Outlook users search for a solution to open Archive.pst without Outlook. Keeping the user’s requirement in mind, different possible approaches are discussed in this blog. Now, users can go for any of the above-discussed approaches as per their needs and requirements.