MS Outlook has been dominating the email client market for the past couple of decades. Over time, the developers of MS Outlook has improved its feature and enhanced their effectiveness. This is why many organizations use them as CRM solutions for their company. Even though there are very few negative factors about the features of the MS Outlook, the application still has several weak spots regarding its robustness. Many times, Outlook users face an unexpected message with the error, “Data File Did Not Close Properly”. This error will frustrate the users, especially if they don’t know how to solve them properly. Here are the top 5 tips that will help you solve this error. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Possible Causes of This Outlook Error
This error generally comes with when the user tries to open the application. Once the error pops, the application thoroughly checks the relevant files for the cause of the problem. Most of the time, the application completes the checking process within a couple of minutes. After compilation of the process, the users can access the application. However, this error is an indication of severe issues, and you need to solve it quickly.
The size of the PST file is another great cause of this error. If the size of the PST file has been extended than the allocated size, you need to compress the files and reduce the size. If your system runs older Outlook versions, make sure the size of the PST file is lesser than 2GB. As per Email Doctor, malware attacks can corrupt the PST files. Despite the reason, you need to solve this problem.
Reduce the Size of PST Files
One of the best things you need to do while encountering the error message is to decrease the size of the PST file. Reducing the overall size by compressing the file will also help you with the recovery process. Even if your system runs modern Outlook versions and the size of the data file is within the mentioned limit, you can still compress the files to free some additional spaces. This step will not only help you solve the error but also enhance the overall performance of Outlook. Here are some steps you need to consider:
- Open Outlook and go to the File tab.
- From there, g to the Account settings and choose the Data Files Screen.
- Choose the PST file you want to compress and click on Settings.
- After that, click on Compact Now to compress the specific file.
Run a PST Recovery Tool
If you still encounter this issue even after reducing the overall size of the PST file, then your system might have experienced a corrupted PST file. Therefore, you need to transfer the content or data from the damaged file and store them into a new PST data file. You can achieve this process by using a great pst recovery tool that will undoubtedly help you successfully transfer the data and fix the corrupted PST file. The PST recovery tools are extremely effective at searching all the contents, from journals to contacts, within a couple of minutes.
Use ScanPST
The Microsoft Office package that you’re using in your system comes with an inbuilt PST repair tool. This tool is known as ScanPST. As per Microsoft, ScanPST contains Even though there are numerous debates regarding the effectiveness of the ScanPST files, you can still use them to solve minor or major cases of PST File corruption. To determine the location of this tool in your system, you need to visit the support website of Microsoft. From there, you can check the relevant versions. Once you know the accurate version, consider following these steps below:
- Run the ScanPST application.
- Click on the option Browsing. From there, select the specific corrupted PST files.
- Once you choose the file, click on the Start option to start the recovery process.
Direct Recovery from the Drive
Even though the process might seem easy, removing the elements from corrupted PST files is undoubtedly a hectic and time-consuming process. In some special cases, you might fail to recover the contents directly from the corrupted file. However, there is an alternate method. You need to recover the contents from the disk or data drive. Make sure you use the PST recovery tool to complete this process. The tool will scan the disk and drive and recover all the MS Outlook content easily.
Restore the Previously Backed-Up PST File
Sometimes, the system restores process might not work, especially if PST files are the primary cause of the problem. In such situations, you need to consider using the previously backed-up copy of the Outlook PST file. This way, you can replace your corrupted PST file with the backed-up PST file. However, keep in mind that you will lose the data that has haven’t been backed up.
Conclusion
Outlook users can face unexpected problems that will prevent them from completing basic tasks. In such cases, you need to take each step strategically.
