Windows 10: Outlook 2016 pst file disappeared. How to find/recover/reconstruct

To determine one possible cause, open Malwarebytes and review the log for the last week. It very well could provide answers as to what happened.

My thinking is if you copy file to where Outlook is looking for it, and there is no corruption in profile, it should open as though it were Feb 2017. It should then contact the server and bring in the mail you are missing. My opinion.

It was my understanding that outlook would not start due to error message. If this is the case I would take device offline (no internet), create a new profile (Control Panel, User Accounts, at bottom is Mail or should be mail.) You may not be able to setup up account not connected. If you do set up new ensure you set option in POP to keep mail on server. (With your backup and all mail you can try other alternatives if needed)

If you can set up account then import PST file. I believe folder structure should still be there. Ideally when you connect it will sync only missing mail. I say ideally as I've had Outlook do some funny things. Your wife contact changes from Feb will likely be lost.

Personally I'd leave IMAP discussion until later. Could you share what service your wife uses for Mail, gmail, outlook, yahoo, etc? We would need to know this to provide any assistance. Generally it is pretty straight forward. If you want to go this route post supplier and members can comment on approach, pros and cons, before you do import. I use an outlook.com account so calendar and contacts are also sync'ed

Defender is becoming a very good product. Lots of member on the forum use it with periodic scans from an alternate.

 

There's a bit of an assumption of knowledge here on my part. That is I assume you already know to setup an email account - whether IMPAP or POP3 seeing you said you had account setup, and that you knew how you wanted to use your account and just needed the .pst file. In that scenario, the method I provided assumes you already have an email account setup and simply wanted to add your old data file .(pst files) to Outlook. That's the method used in the video, and part of my suggestion above your post on this page.

In this scenario, no emails will be downloaded there as it's simply a data repository for old files manually moved there from you, or old .pst files from previous accounts. All your current send/receive emails will be sent to the account you currently had set up BEFORE, you imported the data (.pst file).

Now If you want to import your .pst files into your main email account, use the linked instructions here: How to import email, contacts, and calendar to Outlook from a .pst file and follow the instructions for "Outlook 2016 and 2013: Import Outlook items from a .pst file"

Importing data files can be done in various ways depending on how you want to set them up for use. In my case, I use my .pst file as my main contacts and calendar account, as well as my archives folder for emails I want to keep. However, it is NOT setup to send or receive email. In this instance, it's a data file in the form of a .pst file and is setup as the default data file.

And not trying to be funny but when you lump sum a bunch of unrelated issues or questions into one post things get confusing fast. My suggestion is to stick to one issue at a time. It makes for answering questions and solving issues more focused. That said, regarding your Defender/AVG question... yes, you only need one AV.

 

The confusing part is the OP is asking a bunch of questions that are somewhat unrelated and confusing. I suggest focusing on one issue at a time, and not jumping ahead to other areas.

 

While I also chatted with MS about it possibly being deleted by Defender, it wasn't clear if/how/why/where Defender might delete. Tried using Recuva and EaseUS to recover; the former reported the file as being not recoverable and the latter identified the precise file and size and date during a deep scan, but when the scan report was compiled, that file was not available for recovery. A lost cause, it seemed.

Anyway, after more reading, I simply created an additional IMAP account and then let Outlook download everything; all relevant emails will now remain on the server for backup purposes. I added the Feb 2017 POP backup as an additional file, so all flagged emails in there can be worked on. I've now deleted the original account and the lost PST file.

Not a perfect finish, but the best possible. Thank you to everyone who responded.

 

Depending on the service you use some things won't be replicated to server so I would test.

In particular if you make changes to Contacts, Calendars and Tasks

If you determine that any aren't being replicated / sync'ed obviously you will have to do backups of PST file.

One thing you might want to research, how to move PST file. I moved mine to the documents folder in a sub folder called Outlook. This way my normal backups of data files captures the PST.

Ken

 

Previously suggested in post #12....