How to Combine Multiple PST Files in Outlook 2016/2010/2007

by Abrienne Jonethan IT & Technical Writer

In this era of improving technology, many organizations keep their old data as a backup keeping in mind, the security of the data or future accessibility. If we talk about email data, then there are many organizations, which uses Outlook as their prime email client for the purpose of sending and receiving emails. So, most of them ask about how to combine multiple PST files as one in Outlook. Therefore, this problem is encountered by a large number of users. This blog describes the best possible approach to resolve the same without any hassle and extra efforts.

Most Frequent asked query

“I need to join and merge my Old PST file which contains some of my important data but now, the problem is that they are all in a scattered form and I want to merge my Outlook PST data as one file for my easy to store it without data loss. I have researched on Google and came to know that there is no direct Manual Approach to perform, so I am looking for a reliable solution which can easily open merge multiple Outlook PST files and remove duplicate data at the same time. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in Advance!!”

Although to Combine multiple PST files into one is not that complicated task to perform. It can be done in two processes:

Step 1:- Create a New PST file

1.) Open MS Outlook Program.

2.) Click on the “New Items”, select “More Items” and from the drop-down menu select “Outlook Data File”.

3.) Now choose the location to save the PST file and provide a name to the file. Now click on “Ok” button.

Step 2:- Import all PST files into new blank PST file

After you have created a new PST, import the PST file in the newly created file one by one:

1.) Click on “File” > “Open” > “Import & Export”.

2.) “Import and Export” wizard will appear. Select option “Import from another program or file” from the displayed list and click on “Next”.

3.) Now select file type “Outlook Data File (.pst)” and click on “Next”.

4.) Click on “Browse” and select the file to import. Make sure you check the box “Do not import duplicates" that does not import the duplicated files and then click on “Next”.

5.) Select the folder to import from. Check the box “Include subfolders” and “Import items into the same folder in”. Then click on “Finish”.

Repeat the same steps for all PST files to import Outlook, which you want to combine into one.

Drawbacks of Manual Approach

There are numerous drawbacks which are associated with Manual Technique. Some of these limitations are listed below:

· It is sometimes quite confusing to perform the merging of the file if you have got a large number of PST files.
· It is not easy to import the file with Outlook attachments.
· The Manual Approach can be quite lengthy sometimes.

Alternative Approach to Combine Multiple PST Files

As discussed above, due to the certain limitations of the manual approach, most of the user want to go for the advanced and professional way to merge PST files in Outlook. So, users are always advised to use any the third-party commercial tools Merge PST File Software is one such utility program, one of the best applications to merge, combine PST and also merge PST Contact with any data loss.