If you have received a Microsoft Outlook PST file from somebody transferring a mailbox backup, you may wonder how to open this type of file. Using an installed copy of Outlook on your computer makes this relatively easy in a few steps.

Make sure the file is on writeable media. If it has been provided to you on a write-protected flash drive, or if the file is located on a piece of optical media (CD or DVD), copy the file to a directory on your computer.

Open The PST File

1. Open the Outlook application on your computer. Once the interface is up, navigate to the upper-left and click on “File”:

2. Click on “Open & Export”:

3. Click on “Open Outlook Data File”:

4. An “Open Outlook Data File” pop-up selection box will show. Navigate to the folder where your provided PST file resides. Highlight your PST file and click “OK”:

Microsoft Outlook Open Outlook Data File

5. Once opened, the mailbox will appear in the left-panel of the Outlook interface. In the example, the opened PST file appears as “Outlook Data File”:

6. Click on the “>” to expand the contents of the mailbox:

Microsoft Outlook left panel expanded contents

You can now click on the folders contained in the expanded mailbox and review the contents. In the above example, the opened PST file holds a folder named “Quarterly Reports”. Clicking on this folder will reveal the contents in Outlook for review.

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