How to determine the mode that Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003 is using for OST files?
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010How to determine the mode that Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003 is using for OST files?
At times it becomes imperative to know which mode MS Outlook email client is using. Due to various issues like 2 GB limitation, network connection, add-ons etc, it becomes important to know which mode is installed on our system.
You are working on OST file but don’t know the mode in which it is running? Here we will discuss how you can determine the MS Exchange mailbox mode that is being used for your Offline Storage file .OST in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003. All the offline folders of Outlook are stored in .OST file, which is saved on the hard disk.
OST file is created automatically when you set up MS Outlook or when you first make a folder available offline. This feature requires you to use a Microsoft Exchange Server email account.
If we talk about MS Office Outlook 2003, you must know that a new .OST file format is introduced that offers more storage capacity for both items and folders, and it supports multilingual Unicode data. An .ost file that is created in Unicode format is not compatible with earlier versions of Outlook, and you cannot open these files in an earlier version of Outlook.
Based on the MS Exchange Server that we are using, the administrator settings, and the formats of the data files that are configured for the profile, Outlook automatically determines the format that is used to create the .OST file. If your Outlook settings do not allow the .OST file to be created in the new format, Outlook creates the .OST file in the format that is compatible with earlier versions of Outlook. Outlook can use either a Unicode or non-Unicode mode .OST file while running in Cached Exchange Mode.
To determine the mode that you are using, follow these steps.
For Outlook 2003
* On the Tools menu, click E-mail accounts, click View or change existing e-mail accounts, click Next, select the Exchange e-mail account, and then click Change.
* Click More Settings, and then click the Advanced tab.
The status appears under Mailbox Mode.
For Outlook 2007
* On the Tools menu, click E-mail accounts, click the Exchange e-mail account, and then click Change.
* Click More Settings, and then click the Advanced tab.
The status appears under Mailbox Mode.
This way you can determine the mode of OST file you are using. If OST file gets corrupt, it needs to be converted to PST file to recover the OST file email items and to access them also. Kernel for OST to PST is the best software that converts OST to PST and produces the accessible Outlook file.
