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How to Repair Contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007 in Windows OS?

author
Published By Nilesh
Aswin Vijayan
Approved By Aswin Vijayan
Published On January 23rd, 2024
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Outlook is the widely used email client among technical users’. It stores all important data in it, including contacts. Now, for any Microsoft Outlook users, contacts list is very important as it stores lots of crucial information it like email ids, mobile numbers, permanent address, etc. All such things play a very important role for any business users and they cannot afford the risk of losing such important details.

But, in some situations, users are unable to access contacts in Outlook. There can be any possible reason behind it and this problem is commonly faced by Outlook 2010, 2007 users. Therefore, how to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007 is one of the trending queries over the internet. Keeping this query of users in mind, this blog will provide users the solution for the same.

When to Repair Contacts in Outlook 2010?

Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 etc. stores all its mailbox data and other profile data in PST file format. Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 and below versions creates 2 PST files at the backend, one for storing mailbox data and other for storing contacts, calendars, tasks, notes, journals etc. So, if there is any issue in accessing Outlook contacts, then the possibility of PST file corruption is to be considered. Now, Outlook data file becomes damaged due to several reasons. For example, virus infection, abnormal termination of Outlook application, sudden power shutdown, improper file system recovery, etc.

In all such type of situations, a user needs to fix PST file of Outlook 2010, 2007 containing contacts. It is because only after repairing an inaccessible Outlook PST data file, a user will be able to access contacts of Outlook. Now, the question is how all this can be done in an effortless or seamless manner. In order to know about the same, continue reading the blog.

“I am using Outlook from past 2 years to manage my business-related communication. It contains all contacts details of my clients. But last night when I tried my contacts list in Outlook 2010, I was failed. I do not understand, what happened suddenly? Why it is not responding as normally? Could anyone out there tell me, how can I get access back to Outlook 2010 contacts?”

How to Repair Contacts in Outlook 2010? Different Methods!!

As discussed above the main reason behind the inaccessibility of contacts is the corruption in Outlook data file. In order to remove corruption from PST file, both manual and professional ways available.

Approach #2: Using Outlook Recovery Software

If a user wants to overcome the limitations of the manual approach and wants to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, then switch to a professional approach. The Outlook Recovery Software is one of the best Outlook recovery software that effectively repair corrupt PST file, including contacts and emails messages. It is one of the decent and finest ways to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007.

In addition, the software is also capable to restore deleted items like contacts from the PST file. A user can install and launch this application on any version of MS Windows and does not require MS Outlook installation on the local machine.

Note: To repair or recover damaged contacts in Mac Outlook you can try the Mac Outlook Recovery Tool. It can easily recover or repair contacts from Mac Outlook OLK14, OLK 15, and OLM files

Approach #1: Using Scanpst.exe

To deal with such type of situations, Microsoft offers a repair feature that comes inbuilt in MS Outlook. This repair feature will fix the PST file corruption issue that stores contacts of Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 on the local machine. The Inbox Repair tool is that utility, which comes inbuilt in MS Office to repair all issues in Outlook PST file. In addition, it simply removes corruption from the data file and saves all data in PST file format. This manual method is helpful if the PST file damaged because of some virus or malware infection. Now before start using scanPST.exe the user must know the default location of their PST files in Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003. The user must know how to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 editions clearly.

For Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 POP3 Account:

  • C:\Users\admin\Documents\Outlook Files\user_id.pst
  • C:\Users\admin\Documents\Outlook Files\profile_name.pst

For Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 IMAP Account:

  • C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\user_id.pst
  • C:\Users\admin\Documents\Outlook Files\profile_name.pst

In these 2 PST files created in Outlook 2010, 2017, 2003 POP3, and IMAP account, the PST file with name profile_name.pst is containing contacts data from your Outlook account. This PST data file contains a calendar, tasks, notes etc. also along with contacts. So, choose the PST file according to your account configuration from the default location with profile_name.pst file. The other .pst file created in Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 version with the name user_id.pst will be containing mailbox data in it.

Steps to Run Inbox Repair Utility

Do you know how to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007, 2003 versions using ScanPST.exe tool. The following section provides the proper steps to run Microsoft inbuilt utility efficiently to fix issues in contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007 2003 versions.

  1. To initiate the process, click on the Start button on your local machine desktop in which Microsoft Outlook is already installed.
  2. After that, you have to type scanpst.exe in the given search text box and hit Enter key. The location of the utility file opens in a separate window.
  3. Then, you need to double-click on the scanpst.exe file, which is displayed in a search result. It will open the tool and launch the repair wizard.
  4. Now, click on the Browse button and select the PST file containing Outlook contacts that you want to repair.
  5. At last, click on the Start button and begin the PST file scanning process to fix corruption issues. The time taken by the process will depend on the size of the PST file.

Limitations of Manual Approach:

  • Can not recover deleted items from PST file.
  • Unable to repair password protected PST file.
  • There is a huge risk of data loss during this process.
  • Unable to deal with major level of corruption issues.

Conclusion

Any small issue in MS Outlook can slow the overall performance. Thus, when users are unable to access contacts from Outlook, corruption in PST file is the primary reason. Therefore, in this post, all possible ways on ‘how to repair contacts in Outlook 2010, 2007?’ are covered properly. A user can have look on both of them and make a choice between them accordingly.