Throughout his career, he has covered complex concepts and provided accessible solutions for users. Before joining Secure Data, he worked as a freelance technical writer. If you moved your data file or its location changed somehow, Outlook might not be able to find reset cached Exchange mode it.

Fixing 'Outlook Data File Cannot Be Accessed' Error on PC

Then, in the next window, make sure you're on the tab marked \"Sync and backup\". On the righthand side of the window, choose the button to \"manage backup\". In that window, ensure the \"Documents\" folder is not enabled to sync to OneDrive. You may need to move the Outlook data file back down from OneDrive. resolve Outlook not sending emails fast Sometimes, rather than keeping a backup it actually takes the files off your system and moves them up to the cloud.

• I tried using the repair process (SCANPST.EXE) which appeared to detect issues but also appeared to complete a successful repair, but the issue persists.
• Creating new Outlook profile or rebooting the computer fixes the issue.
• I successfully moved my Outlook PST files onto my new computer.
• From single external hard drives, SSD’s, mobile devices to enterprise NAS, SAN, and RAID failures, we are ready to help recover from digital disasters, anywhere.
• It even comes with features like auto-split to split large PST files and export the PST contents directly to Microsoft 365.
• Before joining Secure Data, he worked as a freelance technical writer.
• If this diagnostic step works and fixes the error, disabling your add-ins should help prevent it from happening again.
• Then, in the next window, make sure you're on the tab marked "Sync and backup".

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To make sure this is not the case, try opening Outlook and see if it found the data file. Then, in the next window, make sure you're on the tab marked "Sync and backup". On the righthand side of the window, choose the button to "manage backup".

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During the syncing process, OneDrive locks the file, which prevents Outlook from accessing it, resulting in the "Outlook data file cannot be opened" error. You can try to repair Outlook data files to fix the error. This is a good solution if you think your data file might be corrupted. MS Outlook stores all the information related to your email account both online and in a local file on your computer.

Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)

From single external hard drives, SSD’s, mobile devices to enterprise NAS, SAN, and RAID failures, we are ready to help recover from digital disasters, anywhere. When you want to replicate a copy on the cloud, manually copy the PST in the OneDrive folder. This will result in one copy in the folder in OneDrive being used for backup purposes, and another copy in your Outlook client that can be kept open by Outlook. Outlook 2013 and 2016, users of both have reported this issue.



Sometimes, data files get corrupted in a way that none of the methods above can help. This might happen due to a power failure or improper shutdown, hardware issues, or viruses and malware. This could happen if, for example, OneDrive backs up your Documents folder Outlook OST vs PST repair to the cloud and includes the Outlook Files folder where the file is located.