Personal Folder File

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File Format
Name Personal Folder File
Ontology
Extension(s) .pab, .pst, .ost
MIME Type(s) application/vnd.ms-outlook

A Personal Folder File is used by Microsoft Outlook to store e-mails and other things. There are three varieties, which exist in 32 and 64 bit varieties:

  • Personal Address Book (PAB) - stores contacts/address book entries
  • Personal Storage Table (PST) - has mailboxes and other things such as tasks, notes, and appointments
  • Offline Storage Table (OST) - is used for offline storage of items from a remote Exchange server

The name "Personal Folder File" actually originally applied to the PST variety, but has been used as an "umbrella" name for all the varieties as well.

File identification

Files begin with hex bytes 21 42 44 4E.

Software

  • libpff - library + tools to access PFF and OFF (Offline Folder File) formats
  • libpst - includes utility to convert PST folders to both mbox and other formats


Links

Personal tools
Namespaces

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