Coder Programming: Opening up Outlook By Wes Peterson

Posted 13 years ago on 7/20/2010 Take Away: Long a proprietary data store format, Microsoft is opening up the Outlook PST file format with the release of a couple new products.  Tags: Outlook , PST , .pst , Outlook Data , Outlook SDK , SDK KB102189

Since, oh, about forever, the only way programmers could work with the Outlook data store was via COM. It could certainly be done, but it wasn't as much fun as it might have been if Microsoft had, say, used an ordinary database for Outlook data.

That is beginning to change with the release of two new tools (both under the Apache open source license).

One is an Outlook PST Data Structure View tool. It's purpose is to give developers better insight into the data structures used in PST files.  You can get it here:
http://pstviewtool.codeplex.com/

The other is the PST File Format SDK. For now, this is a header-only, C++ release, but Microsoft is said to be readying the bits we'll need for complete read/write access. The PST File Format SDK is here:
http://pstsdk.codeplex.com/

If your projects involve the need to access Outlook PST files, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on these.

Mike Prestwood

Comment 1 of 1 After these are developed and released, it would be great if someone builds an ADO driver. Posted 13 years ago

KB Post Contributed By Wes Peterson:

Wes Peterson is a Senior Programmer Analyst with Prestwood IT Solutions where he develops custom Windows software and custom websites using .Net and Delphi. When Wes is not coding for clients, he participates in this online community. Prior to his 10-year love-affair with Delphi, he worked with several other tools and databases. Currently he specializes in VS.Net using C# and VB.Net. To Wes, the .NET revolution is as exciting as the birth of Delphi. Visit Profile