You cannot open it with any application to browse or export its content. The OST file is proprietary to Microsoft. Once the computer connects to the internet, the changes done on your computer will be automatically synced with the server. You will be able to create contacts, emails, calendar requests, and other things, while offline. The idea behind it is that if you would be in a place where the internet is not available, you can still access your emails, calendar, contacts, tasks, and journal since these have been previously downloaded to your computer. The recent versions of Outlook, when configured with an IMAP account, create OST files.
There was a disaster on the Exchange Server and all emails were lost from the server and backups, and the only copy of the emails is on the machine.īefore proceeding with OST to PST conversion procedure, let’s understand **What is an OST file?**Īn OST file or Outlook offline data file is a copy of the mailbox on the local machine of the user. The OST file is retrieved from an old computer where the mailbox does not exist anymore. Mailbox on the Exchange Server is corrupted and the OST file on the computer is the only copy of the mailbox. You may need to convert an OST file to PST due to various reasons, such as: