Manual Technique to Delete & Disable Offline Outlook Data File


In today's arena, Outlook is the most popular desktop email client program. Users can also configure multiple email accounts on Microsoft Outlook and navigate between them in the same Window. At times, end users want to delete their mailbox from a specific email ID because they do not need anymore. Therefore, in the upcoming section, we are going to discuss a manual trick to let user understand how to delete & disable offline Outlook data file.


Quick Glance on Outlook Data File

MS Outlook is the desktop-based application that can be saved locally to provide an offline access. It can be stored in two formats like OST (Offline Storage Table) and PST (Personal Storage Table) file. PST file that contains a copy of the message stored on the hard disk of the system. Outlook uses Microsoft Exchange Server to sync all latest messages on a regular basis. Hence, another file is created i.e., OST which is an exact replica of data file that is saved on the server. In some situations, users want to remove their OST file from their local machine for certain reasons.

Reasons to Delete or Disable Offline Outlook Data File

Since Outlook stores a large amount of data on computer's hard drive. The created OST file too big in size, which is particularly prone to corruption. Users can also choose to disable the Outlook data file. Moreover, users want to create the new mailbox that can disable the old all .ost file. Many times, Outlook can load OST file even after it has been automatically disabled. Afterwards, it has become very important to remove Outlook data files manually. Additionally, when users try to configure a new email account in Outlook, they want to delete default Outlook files. There are two major reasons to eliminate the offline data files as stated below:

  • Get New Mailbox
  • There are multiple users who wish to create the new user mailbox, which can disable the old mail address. Many times, it happens the OST file can be automatically loaded via Outlook after saving on a hard drive. This is the main problem due to which Outlook will display multiple mailboxes. To disable the corrupted .ost file, Microsoft Exchange Server settings have to be changed. As soon as that, they were not successfully removed.

  • Issue in Offline Mode
  • In an offline mode, when emails have been opened and sent, the changes made to the OST file data of a host computer. When an internet connection is established, these changes are transmitted to the server. Although, due to such failures, synchronization errors that can occur. That makes essential to disable Offline Outlook data file, which was stored ahead of time. It could be replaced by a new OST data file obtained from a server.


Manual Tricks to Delete & Disable Offline Outlook Data File

Before proceeding further, it is advisable to take a complete backup of the ost data using OST Export Tool for future use. Go through the following steps as given below:

Disable Offline OST File

Most of the time, users want to disable their Outlook OST file due to several reasons. It may be disabled by following all the above mentioned steps:

  • For synchronization of a particular folder, go to the Tools menu, select an option Send/Receive and then, click on the desired folder
  • For synchronizing folders that can be set for offline usage, click on the Tools, choose Send/Receive option and select all options
  • For synchronizing Send/Receive groups of folder, choose Tools menu and select Send/Receive option and then, click on the Send/Receive group name
  • After synchronizing the changes, navigate towards Tools menu, select email Accounts and then, choose View or change current email accounts. Press Next button
  • Now, select MS Exchange Server and after that, click on the Change button
  • Next, click the more settings option, choose Advance tab and select offline folder settings. Then, go to the disable offline option.

Let's Wrap Up

OST file is a backbone of MS Outlook which makes accessibility of email account in an offline mode. It can save all mailboxes and keep it completely synchronized with the Exchange database. However, if OST file gets corrupted or the user wants to set up a new mailbox, then the old OST file has to be disabled. In this blog, we have already discussed various reasons and a manual technique to delete or disable offline Outlook data file.