data file cannot be accessed

It seems that during your clean up you have deleted or corrupted the Profile & Data files, so you will need to re establish those again.

This MS website should help you, so read through it & follow the directions. You may need to reset the set up again with your ISP if you lose that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2659085

Thanks for the help -- I did it and can send and receive now. But it seems to be running slower now than previously. The Outlook program shows "downloading folder order" -- and that seems to hang up the speed. I had never seen that before. Anything I can do about it?

Added -- since the one guy said to delete the existing program and reinstall, he told me to "export the address book to a file". I did that -- now how do I import it back to the address book (it is currently a Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values File)

The delay in speed could be due to Outlook downloading emails etc. from the ISP that had been stored there & not accessed until now. Give it a few days & see if it settles down.

To import those address files back to the address book.
Open Outlook, click on File at the top LH corner & the drop down list will have Open & Export, click on that & it will show a double ended arrow with Import/Export.
Click on that & you will a list on options, so select Import from Another Program or File, click on that & select Next, this will show a few options so select the one that says Comma Separated Values, then Browse to where the CSV address list is located, that you exported earlier. There are options as to whether you want duplicates or not so select the one that you prefer.
Click Next & follow through as it asks.
This should get those CSV files into your address book, which you can check later.

This info I have supplied is for Outlook 2013, but I think 2010 is very similar.

Richard, it seems that you now have 2 .pst data files.
What has happened I think is that when you reinstalled Outlook your existing .pst data file stayed behind & now you have 2 .pst data files.

Do you only have the one email address?.

Does the one shown as C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\(my new email adress)-(the new name I gave).pst, have all the information that you need & has it got all the emails you think it should have there as well. This one I think is probably the original .pst data file that was there before you reinstalled Outlook. If this is the one that got corrupted that we discussed earlier, then you need to have a look at the C:\Users\Richard\Documents\Outlook Files\Outlook Data File -(the new name I gave).pst to see if all the info there is what you think it should be. If it is then you need to make sure Outlook knows where to find that file.

Probably the easiest way would be to save the .pst data in the
C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\(my new email adress)-(the new name I gave).pst to a USB thumb drive & then delete the data in the file. This will provide a back up if needed.\
Now copy the data from the
C:\Users\Richard\Documents\Outlook Files\Outlook Data File -(the new name I gave).pst & paste it into the one that you just deleted the data from. So that means that the new .pst data file is now where the old original Outlook .pst data file was.
Now open Outlook, select File & go to Account Settings & click on the Data File & if necessary change to where the data file now is, which should be the original location that Outlook had before all these problems.

Did you get the Address Book problem fixed?, that I gave details on how to copy the CSV info to the address book. Just check that you still have that CSV file so you can get your address book fixed if necessary.

Yes, I seem to have two .pst files.
Yes, I have only one email address (I have a second one for testing purposes but I don't associate it with Outlook).
I checked on the address book solution you gave and it seemed it would work. I followed along and clicked on 'cancel' before it would do the actual transfer. I figured I wanted to solve this problem before I transfer the data.

Under the Appdata file, I see 4 Outlook Data Files -- one at 5969 kb, the other 3 significantly smaller.
Under the Documents file, I see 3 Outlook Data Files -- two at 265 kb, and my old AT&T file at 2,077,265 kb file.

Appdata or Documents file -- which one is the preferred location for Outlook, or does it matter? Edit: I see you answered this on another thread: Normally Outlook files are stored in the Documents Directory under Outlook Files, so you should be sure that's where they are.


I use Outlook for a part time job I have. I also use the email site for the ISP I use.

The Appdata file which is C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\ is the default Outlook .pst data file.

I think the data file of 5969 kb is your old data file that maybe the corrupted one. That's why I suggested copying it to say a USB thumb drive, for safe keeping in case it is needed. Of course you could copy it to a new Folder in your Documents Library & name it something that does not confuse you when setting up the other files.

I also think one of those 2 data files of 265 kb is your now current new one. The problem is, which one is it?

Locate & copy that 5969 kb file as I suggested above to another location. Then delete it from the Outlook data location. This should leave this folder vacant.

Now locate those 3 files in your Documents Folder & copy & paste them into that now vacant folder. This folder should be the Outlook default folder. Then delete them from the old Documents folder that they were in. The reason I have suggested relocating those files is that it is the Outlook Default .pst data file location.

Now open Outlook & go to the Account Settings & click on the Data Files tab & then click on Open File Location, this should then take you straight to where those 3 data files are now located, if not then you will need to find the location to tell Outlook where they are.

You can also have your old AT&T there as well.

I hope I have explained this clearly enough for you to be able to follow. If not get back & we can go further. The reason I have suggested removing the 5969 kb .pst data file is that I think it might be the corrupted one. A file of that size takes a while to accumulate as an email one, so one of the smaller ones is more likely to be the current one.

If you have all the .pst data files in the Outlook default directory & check on the File Location tab in Outlook Account settings it should go straight to where those file are. Once you get it up working properly you can move one of those small .pst data files to another location, delete it from the folder & see if Outlook still works, if not then that is your main default email account .pst data file, so you can copy & paste it back again.

If this all works out then you can set up your Address Book.

Ranger4 -- thank you very much for your time. I am learning stuff. I've been working on it tonight, and have had more replies for you , then edited, then deleted, aaarrgghh. Even while writing this, I've done edits.

But things have changed. I've been using the Add button in Data Files and now I have the new email address as my default and the folder is the Documents Folder -- and it is that 5969 kb file (weird, since it is only a couple months old, and I don't get that many emails). I have sent myself an email from another pc and address and it went through. I then tried to send an email, and it went through. I was also able to get my old email address as a secondary source in the navigation pane of Outlook. And it is also located in the Documents folder. And it seems to be working properly.

In my Data Files in the Account Settings window I have 3 .pst. The two I just mentioned seemed to be working proper. The third one is one through the Appdata file (it's one of the original ones I told you about). I figured to highlight it and hit Remove -- when I do a window pops up and says "This data file is associated with a mail account. To remove it use the 'E-mail tab'". When I go to the E-mail tab and highlight the only one entry there, and click Remove, it disappears (then I have nothing under my e-mail tab). When I click on New to add a new one it brings it right back up in the same Appdata folder.

I thought I had it, but I hope we're closer.

EDIT note in the morning: still can't seem to get rid of the Appdata file. It seems that maybe I need to find the Inbox and move it? The new email address data file I do not care if I lose the data. I could delete it all and just start over on it. That would delete the file you think is corrupt and all others, but I could create a new one with no care or concern about the lost data.
Apparently the Appdata file cannot be set as the default file in the Account Settings Data File -- and it acts as the inbox for new emails.

Ranger4 -- before you put much thought into this, there has been changes. I'll keep my eye open on this site tonight (in America) and see if I can answer or do anything to help out. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME, sorry I'm a pain in the rear, but I thought I had it, but no I guess.