Resolve Outlook PST Cannot Be found Error

MS Outlook is a popular email client that uses .PST(Personal Storage Table) file to store all emailing data like emails, contacts, event calendars, etc. If you are a regular Outlook user you must have encountered the ‘Outlook pst cannot be found’ error that can be due to an oversize or corrupt PST file. If you are receiving this error and need a solution to recover from this situation then this blog is for you, we are going to discuss different methods to remove Outlook PST Cannot Be Found Error.

Many users have reported that they are receiving the said error message whenever they try to open Microsoft Outlook. This tends to happen if an action prior to the emergence of the error message corrupted your Outlook installation files. Since the error appears at the startup, it prevents users from accessing the Outlook desktop application which can be unpleasant. Outlook PST cannot be found is an error that occurs on the screen when there is damage or alterations to the (.pst) file. In any case, the data in the file that is copied or stored will be lost. This upset can be very hectic at times if or when someone has very important information and counting on it.

pst cannot be found error resolved

This error will prevent users to launch .pst files which will keep them from data they got copied into it. It might prevent them from even launching the outlook completely. Even though the error is quite known to a lot of people, many people may still don’t understand the meaning and the effect it got on their files. Although nothing much can be done to keep an eye on the causes leading to this error still there are a few of them which are the most probable ones.

Reasons for Outlook PST cannot be found Error

  • The first reason may be that the .pst file is unavailable on the current network server.
  • The second reason is the corruption of the .pst file.
  • And the third reason is that the PST file is available on the network drive but not supported by LAN or WAN connection to trigger it.

How to remove Outlook PST cannot be found Error

One of the solutions to remove the above error is by creating a new Outlook PST file. If you don’t have important data residing in the PST file you can choose this method. Just delete the PST file > Close Outlook and Relaunch Outlook.

add new profile in outlook

The second method is to use the scanpst.exe application which is also known as Inbox Repair Tool and is available for free with Office installation. The correct method to use this tool and where to look for this application is mentioned in the post Repair PST File with Inbox Repair Tool  This method is not able to repair severe corruption issues related to PST files, It only repairs small header corruption issues.

You can use third-party pst recovery software to remove all kinds of errors from the Outlook PST file. It revives all the data without damaging original content and it doesn’t take much time also. Download from



The error can cause loss of all data which directly or indirectly enables the users to open the data files or in some cases completely prevent launch even Outlook. Although these causes may not be avoided there are ways to recover the data.

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