Published on - August 28, 2019 Open OST in MS Outlook 2019, 2016, and 2013

OST is a popular file format that facilitates offline working in Exchange environments. One of the problems with OST file is that it is profile-specific and so no other user will be able to open it in Outlook. However, you may convert OST to PST so that other users may have a look at the inside data it holds.

Let’s move forward to know how it is done.

Convert OST file to PST

As we discussed that there are situations when one may need to convert OST to PST, and that’s why we are going to quote some methods with which you can perform the conversion.

• Drag & drop OST data to a new PST

To perform this method, you need to log in to Outlook using the original Exchange profile.

1. Open Outlook and create a new Outlook Data File (PST).
2. Now, all you need to do is drag and drop the emails from OST file to the newly created PST file.

Yes, it was as simple as that.

• Use the archive method

Archiving facility in Outlook serves many good purposes, one of which is you can save some OST data to a PST file by archiving it. Let’s know how:

1. Login to Outlook with the Exchange profile. Click Archive.
2. Now, select the folders you want to archive.
3. Provide a destination to the file to store the archive PST file.
4. Finally, click on OK to let the process happen.

This is how you can archive an OST file and open it as PST in Outlook. Though this method is easy and quick, but you can’t save the address book of the OST file.

• Export OST to PST Using Third-Party Software

Kernel for OST to PST is a tool that is designed for smooth conversion of the OST file to PST. The tool is capable of converting OST file to PST in a few easy steps – install the tool properly, run it on your system, and follow the below mentioned steps:

1. Start with clicking on the Browse button to select an OST file (here you can select to convert a single file or multiple OST files to PST).
   
2. From your system, select an OST file which you want to view in the Outlook; click on Open once selected.
   
3. After selecting the file, click on the Next button to proceed.
   
4. Here you will get the process information of the tool; you can check and click on Finish.
   
5. Now, you can see all the data of the OST file on the left section of the tool. Here, you can have the preview of the content of the OST file, by clicking on the folders individually, as shown in the screenshot. Click on the Save button to proceed with the conversion.
   
6. In the Select Output Type dialogue box, select PST file (MS Outlook) and click on the Next button.
   
7. Here, apply the filters for the conversion, like you can select what items you want to convert let’s say Calendar, Notes and Distribution List. Similarly, you can set the filters on other fields like ‘From,’ ‘To,’ ‘Subject,’ ‘Folder Name,’ and ‘Date Range.’ Click on the Next once you are done.
   
8. In the next step, manage the conversion of the file by giving options for the splitting of file and to attach a prefix to the saving name. Once you are done, click on the Next button.
   
9. It is time to provide a destination to the file, so click on the Browse button to select a file. The tool also provides you an option if you want to exclude any folder, select your saving preference from the options and click on Finish.
   
10. Wait for the conversion process to take place and once it is done, click on the OK button to proceed.
    

So, this is how you can convert an OST file to PST. You can now check the newly created PST at the location where you have saved it. Now, you can easily open this PST with Outlook 2019, 2016, or 2010.

Conclusion:
This blog was about how you can process an OST file and open it in Outlook 2019, 2016, or 2010. The blog contains the manual and automated methods for converting an OST to PST for opening it with any version of Outlook. While performing both of the methods we found several pros and cons. Manual method is free, but it is very time-taking. Also, it cannot migrate all items. With the automated method, you can convert each and every item. To conclude, the third-party tool is the easiest and the quickest way to do OST to PST conversion.