How to Find Mail Items in Multiple PST Files?

If you have one or multiple orphaned Outlook PST files and you are looking for a way to search mail items in PST files, you can use classic Outlook. Microsoft's native desktop email client, Outlook, allows you to open multiple PST files and find mail items within the added PST files.

In this guide, we will discuss the step-by-step process of how to search PST files for mail items using Outlook. Additionally, we will also explore a professional Exchange recovery tool to find mail items in case Outlook fails to read the PST files.

Why Search Mail Items in PST Files?

A standard Personal Storage Table (.pst) file stores different mail items, like emails, contacts, calendar, folders, and more. A user may need to search for a specific PST mail item for multiple reasons, such as:

• Find emails in multiple PST files for a specific date or sender.
• Verify the data integrity of a PST file after migration.
• Find employee data from old, archived PST files.
• Search and extract mail items from PST for legal purposes.
• Look for specific items for data recovery from a backup PST file.
• Find and remove duplicate items from Outlook PST files.

How to Find Mail Items in PST Files?

To search for any specific mail items in the Outlook PST files, we will use Outlook and a professional Exchange tool.

Method 1: Search Mail Items in Multiple PST Files Using Outlook

The easiest way to explore the data items stored within standalone and healthy PST files is to use Outlook. Let us see how:

Step 1: Add the PST file to Outlook

• Locate and place all the PST files in a folder. This is not mandatory but will save you time.
• Open the PST file in which you want to search for mail items. You can also import PST file into Outlook, but if your goal is only to search the PST file, then opening the PST directly is better and faster.
• If there are multiple PST files, you have to open each one individually.

Step 2: Search mail items in Outlook PST files

• After adding all the PST files, you will be able to access them from the left navigation pane in Outlook.
• Click and expand any PST file folder. Access all the folders inside the PST mailbox to find the mail items you are looking for.

Alternatively, to find emails in multiple PST files, you can also use the Outlook's built-in search feature. This option allows you to search for items based on From, Sent To, Has Attachments, Category, etc. However, the search feature, by default, only looks for data items in the current mailbox. To search in multiple PST files together, make sure to expand the search scope to all mailboxes.

Limitations of using Outlook to search mail items in Outlook PST file

• Manually adding each PST file is a time-consuming process. Impractical in case you have 100 or more PST files.
• Outlook only supports healthy PST files. So, Outlook cannot read and find mail items from corrupt PST files.
• When the search task is completed, you have to manually remove the PST files from Outlook one by one.

Method 2: Search Mail Items in Multiple PST Files Using Kernel Exchange Suite

If Outlook fails to open your PST files due to corruption or other errors, you can use professional software like the Kernel Exchange Suite. This software allows you to easily open corrupt and healthy PST files. You can add hundreds or even thousands of PST files to this software and find mail items inside them without an issue.

The tool has an advanced search feature that helps you search mail items in PST files using more than 10 parameters. You can find a particular mail item based on From, To, Body, Subject, Category, Class, Read Status, Size, Date, Attachments, and more.  Moreover, every data item is displayed with original metadata and attachments, with the option to save a particular email to MSG, EML, etc.

Steps to search PST files for mail items in bulk with the suite are:

• You require Outlook installed on your system.
• Search within healthy PST files.

• Free Download

Step 1: Download and install Kernel Exchange Suite software.

Step 2: Launch it and click on the PST file option available in the source section.

Step 3: Now, from the given options, choose the Outlook PST file as the source type and click on Next.

Step 4: Click on the Add button to add the PST files as the source in the software.

Step 5: Choose the PST files within which you want to perform a deep search for mail items and click Open.

Step 6: After selecting the PST file to the source for deep search, click Next and wait until the PST files are added to the source.

Step 7: You will get a list of PST files you’ve chosen. Click on the Finish after the PST files are added to the source.

Step 8: You will get all folders and files in the original hierarchy in the left pane of the software. To perform a deep search of mail items, choose the files or folders from the hierarchy and click on the Search button.

Step 9: Here, you’ll get multiple search criteria to find specific mail items of PST files. Follow the below sub-steps to understand the components of email that fetch the specific mail items:

• Click on the General tab to find the specific mail items based on the parameters, including Subject, Body, From, To, Cc, and Bcc.
• You can choose the Mail Properties tab to find specific mail data from PST files using mail attributes, such as Category, Class, Importance, Read Status, and Size (All, Equal to, Not equal to, Less than, Greater than, and Between).
• Select the Date tab to apply data filers, including Message Date (Message created on, Message submit on, Message deliver on, and Message modified on) and Date (All, Equal to, Not equal to, Less than, Greater than, and Between), to find specific mail items from the PST files.
• Also, you can utilize attachment metadata like Name, Type, Body, and Size (All, Equal to, Not equal to, Less than, Greater than, and Between) mentioned under the Attachments tab to find specific mail items from PST files.

Note: We’ve seen multiple options in search criteria to find specific mail items. You can use any of the given filters to fetch specific PST data. Here, we will search particular mail items from PST files using the From filter in the General tab for your convenience.

Step 10: After choosing the General tab, fill in the From column and select the folders from the hierarchy where you want to search your data.

Note: You can select any one or all of the filters provided from a particular tab to proceed with the search procedure.

Step 11: After providing a detail of the given option, click on the Search Now button.

Note: Apart from the Search Now option, there are some other advanced options that help you during the process. They are:

• Match All conditions (AND): This option is for when you have multiple filter components that must be simultaneously true or present for a specific mail item to occur.
• Match Any Condition (OR): This option is for when you have multiple filter components and any one of them is present for a specific mail item to occur.
• Save Settings: You can save current filters, configurations, results, etc., with this option for further purposes.
• Load Setting: This feature loads the previously saved settings to perform other operations.
• Exclude: You must check the Exclude checkbox to view all emails, excluding the provided filter option.

Step 12: All the mail items of PST files will be fetched out successfully on behalf of the provided filter components.

Common Problems When Searching Multiple PST Files

When looking for specific mail items in single or multiple PST files, you may face these common problems.

• Indexing Issue: Outlook depends on Windows indexing ability to search mail items in PST files. The Windows indexer sometimes fails to index large PST files, leading to issues in searching for data items in Outlook.
• No Files Found: By default, when you search PST files for mail items, the search is limited to only a single mailbox. This may prevent you from finding email in multiple PST files. To expand the scope to all the PST files, you have to manually change the search preferences.
• File Corruption: If the PST file is corrupted, you will not be able to open it and search for items in Outlook. To fix it, you have to repair the PST file before adding it to Outlook, or you can use the tool we talked about in the second method above.
• Slow Search: In case the PST files you have added to Outlook are stored in a network location, Outlook search can substantially slow down. If possible, before adding and searching the network-stored PST files, download them to your local hard drive.

Searching Multiple PST Files Efficiently

Using the methods we discussed in this guide, you will be able to search mail items in PST files easily. If you only need to search for items in a few PST files and all are healthy, Outlook will be sufficient. However, in case you have multiple PST files to search for emails, contacts, or other mail items, a smarter choice is to use the Kernel Exchange Suite. The tool can easily add any number of PST files, including corrupt files.

Sarthak PoswalTechnical Writer

This article is written by Sarthak Poswal, a technical content writer at Kernel Data Recovery. This content has been reviewed in accordance with our editorial guidelines.