MS Outlook is one of the most widely-used personal information manager tool available as a part of MS Office suite, developed by Microsoft. MS Outlook stores all mail items in an offline storage file called OST (Offline Storage Table). The OST file lets you work on Outlook even when you are not connected to the internet. In simple words, an OST file is a copy of the Exchange Server mailbox on your local system storage.

PST file is created by the user to store a copy of mail items such as emails, contacts, etc. and is much easier to manage than the OST as OST file is attached to a particular email account and cannot be backed up or accessed separately by MS Outlook. Thus, OST file needs conversion to PST file which is recognized by any MS Outlook account. This is one of the reasons why OST to PST conversion is a very common need for Outlook users.

You can export a PST file from your Outlook profile if your profile is up and running using MS Outlook import/export wizard. However, OST file or Outlook profile becomes inaccessible due to:

1. Synchronization Error
2. Hardware Failure
3. Virus and malware
4. Account termination or accidental deletion
5. Change in domain or Exchange server

You need an advanced tool such as Stellar converter for OST that lets you convert an inaccessible OST file to Outlook supported PST file. I recently required this tool and hence, writing this review after using and exploring this tool.

My Experience with Stellar Converter for OST

My Exchange server has recently got an update and domain name changed. As a result, I was not able to access my Outlook profile. While searching for solutions online, I came across various solutions that I tried on a copy of my OST file (not the on original OST file). This is because these methods could lead to further damage to your OST file.

After trying several methods, I came across Stellar Converter for OST tool. I tried it and it helped me successfully convert my inaccessible Outlook OST file, due to change in the domain name, to Outlook importable PST file. I also migrated from Windows Outlook to macOS High Sierra (installed on my Dell 7560 Hackintosh laptop) with the help of the converted PST file.

I was quite satisfied with the scan results. The tool was very quick and displayed results within no time. However, the time varies with the size of OST file. I was able to preview all emails along with the attachments such as PDFs, Excel, Word files, pictures, etc. and was able to export all my mail items as they were on the Windows Outlook to a perfectly fine PST file.

Later, I transferred the converted PST file to my macOS disk and imported it to my macOS Outlook profile with just a few clicks. So overall, it was pretty smooth and migration was completed within few minutes.

What’s good about the software?

• A simple, decent, and easy to navigate user-interface
• Allows you to save converted emails in MSG, EML, RTF, HTML, and PDF formats
• You can search and save individual mail items
• Allows preview of emails and attachments before export
• Let’s you save scan information so that you don’t need to locate and re-scan OST file
• Capable of converting an encrypted OST file to PST format (requires a password)
• Unlimited OST file conversion
• Supports English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages

What is not available in this software?

• The free version doesn’t let you preview attachments
• For converting OST to Office 365, you need Technician version

Do you need this?

You definitely require this tool if you want to migrate your MS Outlook account to other organization/platform, need to export mail items to other formats, and in the case when your Outlook profile becomes inaccessible due to issues with the OST file caused by several factors mention earlier in this post.

The Stellar Converter for OST tool is worth a try and performs an efficient job of converting OST file to Outlook supported PST file. The tool is quick and is compatible with Windows 10 and earlier versions.

It offers better performance with easy to use GUI (inspired from MS Office 2010) when compared to other similar products on the market. Based on the performance, features, and cost of the tool, I would rate it 8/10.