Thousands of users currently make use of the Outlook mail platform, which is integrated into the Microsoft Office suite, and has numerous functions both at the messaging level and the management of contacts and calendars .
When we create or add an email account to the Outlook application, a local copy of the information is automatically created which is stored on the computer, thanks to this copy, it will be possible to have access to synchronized email messages or that have been downloaded on previous dates, access calendar information, contacts and perform tasks without an internet connection (offline)..
When using Outlook, we have accounts such as POP accounts, which store the information in Outlook data files (.pst files) while Outlook 365 accounts, Exchange accounts, IMAP accounts and Outlook accounts. com are responsible for storing this information Outlook data files (.ost files).
TechnoWikis will focus on the .pst files for this tutorial.
What are .pst files
These are a type of Outlook data file in which messages and other elements of Outlook are hosted and stored on the computer, as we have mentioned, POP accounts are what make use of this type of .pst files and thanks To this it is possible to download all email messages from the mail server and save them to the computer locally.
Now, it is possible that we have .pst files on our computer, but we do not have the Outlook application installed, so TechnoWikis will give some guidelines to open this type of files without the installation of Outlook being necessary..
1. Open Outlook pst file using SysInfoTools PST File Viewer
This free tool called SysInfoTools Free PST file Viewer, is one of the most practical options to carry out tasks such as opening, reading and viewing .pst files without using Outlook.
It is a free tool which will allow us to open all types of Outlook data files, either ANSI, Unicode or Corrupted PST and it may not work as expected if the files are corrupt or in an invalid state. The download of this utility is available at the following link:
SysInfoTools PST File Viewer
features
Among its characteristics we find:
- It allows to open, view or read PST files without having to install Outlook.
- It has a smart PST file viewer to open corrupt Outlook data files (ANSI and Unicode).
- It has preview of items such as emails, calendars, contacts, notes, tasks and more.
- Automatically detects the function that allows to display the information of the PST file, such as version, file type, etc.
- It has an alignment error handling in PST files if they are detected.
- It will be possible to export all the listed data to the HTML file format.
- It allows the creation of a log file in text format in the user-defined location for later administration.
Step 1
When installing the utility this will be your environment:
Step 2
There we click on the "Open" button and the following pop-up sale will be displayed where we will select the .pst file to analyze:
Step 3
We can see that a series of functions are offered to optimize the use of the .pst file, it will be possible to select the recovery mode (Standard or advanced), define the version of the .pst file, the type of encryption and more. Once this is defined, click on the Ok button and the elements of the file will be in a tree format and there we can retrieve and view the respective emails hosted:
2. Open Outlook pst file using PST Viewer
Available for macOS and Windows, Free PST Viewer is a tool for accessing and reading forensic class .pst files which is simple to use. Thanks to this, it will be possible to open and view the contents of the .pst file using this portable utility, and without the need to install MS Outlook. Your download is available at the following link:
PST Viewer
features
Among its various characteristics we find:
- It is a portable tool which does not require installation
- Supports ANSI and UNICODE file formats of Outlook data files
- Perform a read-only scan of your .pst file
- It allows us to view and open multiple .pst files
- Supports password protected .pst files
- Supports corrupt Outlook .pst data files
- It is possible to view messages with email attachments
- Displays and maintains the read and unread status of emails
- Maintains the message format, during the message preview
- It allows us to see contact details as well as the contact photo (if applicable)
- Supports all .pst file formats without encryption, compressible encryption and high encryption
- Supports large .pst files (from 2 GB to 30 GB)
- Supports and runs on Windows and macOS platforms
Step 1
Once we access it this will be your environment:
Step 2
There we click on the “Add File†button to add our .pst file which once selected will display the entire series of emails in tree format and we will have a preview of each one of them:
3. Open Outlook pst file using Free PST Viewer
It is another free utility that will give us the opportunity to access .pst files without installing Outlook for this purpose. Its download is found in the following link:
Free PST Viewer
features
Among its characteristics we find:
- You can check the status of the .pst file
- Only support access to a .pst file
- You can convert PST files to MBOX, MSG and EML / EMLX up to 10 times.
Step 1
Once we access the application, the following pop-up window will be displayed where we will select the .pst file to use:
Step 2
Once the file is selected, all the emails in that file will be automatically displayed and there it will be possible to carry out the necessary tasks on them:
As we can see, the options to open .pst files without using Outlook are varied and complete.
