What Are The Outlook PST And OST Files In Microsoft?

What Are The Outlook PST And OST Files In Microsoft?

PST and OST files are local side files for storing data.

PST files

• The PST is the personal storage table. It is used by personal web clients like POP and IMAP for storage of data on a local device. But this data is device specific and cannot be accessed by other people.

OST files

• The OST is the offline server table. It is used by the Microsoft Exchange server. It helps to access emails and mail attachments even when there is no access to the mail service via internet.
• The data is stored in a cache memory.

What Are The Outlook PST And OST Files In Microsoft?

If you are using Microsoft Office Outlook, it uses two types of data files. The first type is the PST file (*.pst) or the Outlook Data File. This is the data file used for the majority of accounts and is used for IMAP, POP3, and web-based mail accounts.

When creating archives or backing up Outlook items and folders on your computer, like Microsoft Exchange accounts for instance, additional PST files are needed to be created and used. The second type of data file is the OST file (*.ost) or the offline Outlook Data File. When you have a Microsoft Exchange account, your items are normally delivered to and saved on the mail server.

The role of the OST file is to allow you to work with your messages when you cannot connect to the mail server. The OST file is kept on your computer. It allows you to work offline if you have a Microsoft Exchange account. OST files are copies of items saved on a mail server. They don’t have to be backed up unlike the PST file.