Understanding How Data is Stored in Outlook 2007

Though the Outlook Offline Storage Files - OST files and the Personal Storage Files - PST files are two of the most well-known data files, Microsoft Outlook 2007 stores data in various other, useful formats and folders as well. Two of these commonly used folders are Local and Roaming. It is helpful for users and particularly Microsoft Exchange server administrators to understand the purpose of these two folders, the data files that are stored in them and the best way of protecting the data. Since OST files are the most important when it comes to storing offline data and working with offline data files, being aware of ost recovery methods is also important.

Let us begin by understanding the various data files used in Outlook 2007. Since Outlook 2007 is available as part of the Microsoft Office Suite, you can find the Outlook customization files in the Roaming folder but at different levels. Further, almost all Office products share some common functions and tools. For example, one of the most commonly shared tools is the spelling tool that checks for spelling and grammatical errors. Outlook uses the DIC files stored in the Roaming folder. Similarly, Outlook uses the HTM files stored in the RoamingMicrosoftStationary folder for stationary and the OFT files stored in the RoamingMicrosoftTemplates folder for templates while composing messages.

In addition to the Roaming folder, Outlook also provides a Local folder. The Local folder is believed to be simpler than the Roaming folder for the following reasons. First, of all there are only four types of files that are stored in the Local folder and they are typically stored in the same location - the Local portion of your user profile. Since files stored in the Local folder are basically profile specific, the file names also are given to indicate which profile a file belongs to.

The next commonly available data file is the PST file or the Personal storage files. These enable users to create helpful personal data such as contact lists, manage email messages and so on. However, they cannot be used in connection with the Exchange server. Outlook users usually use PST files to archive OST data for long term, to ensure data portability and to help in easy ost recovery.

The most well-known data file used by Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server is of course, the offline storage file, OST files. All the data from the mailbox on the server is locally cached in the OST files once the Cached Exchange mode is enabled. This allows the user to easily access the contents of the mailbox even if there is no connection to the server and the person is working offline. However, as soon as the user goes online, an automatic synchronization process ensures that both the folders are updated so that data consistency is maintained. Further, if any changes are made to the mailbox on the server the current OST files become invalid. Given the importance of OST files and their dependence on the server mailbox, powerful recovery tools such as Advanced Exchange Recovery from DataNumen can play a very important role in ost recovery of orphaned OST files.