{"id":16465,"date":"2020-10-23T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T06:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/?p=16465"},"modified":"2020-10-23T06:22:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T06:22:00","slug":"protect-outlook-ost-file-from-unauthorized-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/protect-outlook-ost-file-from-unauthorized-access\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Protect Outlook .OST File from Unauthorized Access"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How can I set a password for my .OST file in Outlook 2013? It&#8217;s super simple to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/set-a-password-on-outlook-2016-data-file\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">password protect a .PST file<\/a>, but Outlook doesn&#8217;t offer built-in encryption for OST file. If you need to prevent other users from accessing the email messages stored in an .OST file, you can protect Outlook .OST file using third-party software &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/protect-my-folders.html\">Protect My Folders<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Part 1: Find the location of OST file<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before getting started, you need to find the location of OST file in Outlook application. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/9-ways-to-open-control-panel-in-windows-10\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Open the Control Panel<\/a> in <strong>Large icon<\/strong> view, and click on the <strong>Mail<\/strong> option.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mail-control-panel.png\" width=\"571\" height=\"298\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>When the Mail Setup window appears, click on the the <strong>Data Files<\/strong> button.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/mail-setup-outlook.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"425\" height=\"279\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/mail-setup-outlook.png 425w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/mail-setup-outlook-300x197.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Account Settings dialog should list .pst or .ost files for all your email accounts in Outlook. Choose the .ost file you want to protect, and then click on the &#8220;<strong>Open File Location<\/strong>&#8221; button.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-account-settings.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"426\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-account-settings.png 600w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-account-settings-300x213.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>File Explorer will open the folder that contains the specified outlook .ost file.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-ost-file-location.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"289\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-ost-file-location.png 585w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/outlook-ost-file-location-300x148.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Part 2: Protect Outlook OST File from Unauthorized Access<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/download\/protect_my_folders.exe\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a> and install the Protect My Folders application on your computer. The first time you launch the program, it will prompt you to set up a master password in order to manage protected folders \/ files.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/images\/set-password-for-protect-my-folders.png\" width=\"383\" height=\"255\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>Just drag your desired .ost file from File Explorer and drop it to the Protect My Folders app, it will be hidden and locked down.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/protect-outlook-ost-file.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"411\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/protect-outlook-ost-file.png 600w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/protect-outlook-ost-file-300x206.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>Nobody can access, copy, or delete a secured .ost file. If you launch Outlook application, you&#8217;ll get the error that says the ost file can&#8217;t be opened.\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/can-not-start-outlook.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"185\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/can-not-start-outlook.png 413w, https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/can-not-start-outlook-300x134.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<li>Whenever you need to access the secured .ost file, just launch Protect My Folders and enter the master password. Select your .ost file and click on &#8220;<strong>Unlock<\/strong>&#8220;. You can then start Outlook application and access anything stored in that .ost file.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can I set a password for my .OST file in Outlook 2013? It&#8217;s super simple to password protect a .PST file, but Outlook doesn&#8217;t offer built-in encryption for OST file. If you need to prevent other users from accessing the email messages stored in an .OST file, you can protect Outlook .OST file using [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,1894,3,39],"tags":[4569,4570],"class_list":["post-16465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-others","category-tips-tricks","category-windows-10","category-windows-7","category-windows-8","tag-password-protect-ost-file","tag-password-protect-outlook-ost-file"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16465"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16478,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16465\/revisions\/16478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.top-password.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}