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Extract Subfiles from Outlook Personal Folders Files

KeyView can extract Outlook items such as messages, appointments, contacts, tasks, notes, and journal entries from a PST file.

If an Outlook item contains a non-mail attachment, the attachment is extracted in its native format to a subdirectory. If an Outlook item contains an Outlook attachment, the attached item’s text and any attachments are extracted to a subdirectory.

Use the Native or MAPI-based Reader

KeyView accesses PST files in one of two ways:

• indirectly using the Microsoft Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) reader named pstsr.

• directly using the native PST reader named pstnsr.

On UNIX platforms, the native reader is always used to process PST files because the MAPI-based reader only runs on Windows x86 and x64. On Windows, you can specify either reader; however, the MAPI-based reader is used by default.

The differences between the two readers are summarized in the following table:

To use the MAPI-based reader for PST files, change the PST entry in the formats.ini file as follows:

297=pst

To use the native reader for PST files, change the PST entry in the formats.ini file as follows:

297=pstn

Use the Native PST Reader (pstnsr)

The native PST reader accesses PST files directly without relying on the Microsoft interface to the PST format. It runs on both Windows and UNIX, and does not require an Outlook client on the system processing the PST files. However, the native reader does not support password-protected PST files that use high encryption.

Use the MAPI Reader (pstsr)

The pstsr reader accesses PST files indirectly by using Microsoft’s Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI). MAPI is a standard Windows message interface that enables different mail programs and other mail-aware applications (such as word processors and spreadsheets) to exchange messages and attachments with each other. MAPI allows KeyView to open a PST file, traverse the folders and Outlook items, and extract the items inside the PST file.

System Requirements

Because MAPI is supported on Windows platforms only, you can filter PST files on Windows only. Because MAPI relies on functionality in Microsoft Outlook, a Microsoft Outlook client must be installed on the same machine as the application filtering PST files, and must be the default email application. KeyView supports the following PST formats and Outlook clients:

• Outlook 97 or higher PST files

• Outlook 2002 or later clients

  NOTE: The Outlook client must be the same version as, or newer than, the version of Outlook that generated the PST file.

MAPI Attachment Methods

The way in which you can access the contents of a PST message attachment is determined by the MAPI attachment method applied to the attachment. For example, if the attachment is an embedded OLE object, it uses the ATTACH_OLE attachment method. KeyView can access message attachments that use the following attachment methods:

ATTACH_BY_VALUE

ATTACH_EMBEDDED_MSG

ATTACH_OLE

ATTACH_BY_REFERENCE

ATTACH_BY_REF_ONLY

ATTACH_BY_REF_RESOLVE

Attachments using the ATTACH_BY_VALUE, ATTACH_EMBEDDED_MSG, or ATTACH_OLE attachment methods are extracted automatically when the PST file is extracted. An "attach by reference" method means that the attachment is not in Outlook, but Outlook contains an absolute path to the attachment. Before you can extract these types of attachments, you must retrieve the path to access the attachment.

To extract "attach by reference" attachments

Determine whether the attachment uses an ATTACH_BY_REFERENCE, ATTACH_BY_REF_ONLY, or ATTACH_BY_REF_RESOLVE method by retrieving the MAPI property PR_ATTACH_METHOD.

If the attachment uses one of the "attach by reference" methods, get the fully qualified path to the attachment by retrieving the MAPI properties PR_ATTACH_LONG_PATHNAME or PR_ATTACH_PATHNAME.

You can then either copy the files from their original location to the path where the PST file is extracted, or use the Filter API functions to filter the attachment.

Open Secured PST Files

KeyView enables you to specify a user name and password to use to open a secured PST file for extraction.

Detect PST Files While the Outlook Client is Running

If you are running an Outlook client while running the File Extraction API, the KeyView format detection module (kwad) might not be able to open the PST file to determine the file’s format because Outlook has the file locked. In this case, you can do one of the following:

• Close Outlook when using the Extraction API.

• Detect PST files by extension only and bypass the format detection module. To enable this option, add the following lines to the formats.ini file:

  [container_flags]
  detectPSTbyExtension=1

  NOTE: The detectPSTbyExtension option applies only when you are using the MAPI reader (pstsr).
  NOTE: If you use this option, you must make sure in your code that valid PST files are passed to KeyView, because the format detection module is not available to verify the file type and pass the file to the appropriate reader.