The article intends to help users recover their .pst file password in Microsoft Outlook using simple methods. The methods described in the article are reliable and correct to the date. Failure or success of any method entirely depends on how correctly you follow the instructions.

A PST (.pst) file is a personal storage file that Microsoft Outlook uses to store all the data including emails, contacts, calendar entries, journals, and attachments among other information used by Outlook. Though it is not necessary, but users who are concerned of unauthorized access password-protect these .pst files. It is common for us to forget or misplace passwords and then face difficulty accessing our emails, files, folders etc. Don't worry as we are here to help you with all the common Microsoft Outlook problems that often demand expert Microsoft technical help. Below are the step by step instructions that will help you recover the password of your .pst file.

Instructions:

Automatic Procedure -

There are various automatic Outlook .pst password recovery tools available on different websites. Some of them include PST Password, a free software, Advanced Outlook Repair, Recovery Toolbox, Outlook Password Recovery, and Password Recovery Engine among others. You can choose a free or paid version according to your convenience. Once you have zeroed on a particular program, download it from the website, save the file to your desktop or another location where you can easily access it from, and run it. Wait until the process finishes and brings up the password of your .pst file.

Manual Procedure -

It is not possible for a normal (even advanced) user to manually recover the password of a .pst file when it is lost. It is due to the complex structure of the Windows that stores password somewhere on the hard drive. However, you can either setup a new password (of course you are going to remember this until you lost it again) or free your .pst file from the password using these methods. Launch Outlook; enter the password if it requires you to. Click on the File tab and select Data File Management from the list. When the Account Settings window opens up, click on Personal Folders under the Data Files tab, and then click on the Settings button just above Personal Folders. Click on the Change Password button under the General tab. Type the password you want in the New Password box, retype the password in the Verify password box, put a check mark in the box Save this password in your password list, and click on the OK button when finished. Click on the Close button to close the Account Settings window. If you want, you can leave the New password and Verify password fields blank to keep the file without password.

To remove the password from .pst file, you can also use the pst19upg.exe and Scanpst.exe utilities in your Windows. Pst19upg.exe is a command and Scanpst.exe is a utility that should be under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX(where XX denotes the version number). The default location of the .pst file(s) is \Users\your username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook