How to Read an Outlook (2003/2007) Pst File in C#

Can I read an Outlook (2003/2007) PST file in C#?

The Outlook Interop library is not just for addins. For example it could be used to write a console app that just reads all your Outlook Contacts. I am pretty sure that the standard Microsoft Outlook Interop library will let you read the mail - albeit it will probably throw a security prompt in Outlook that the user will have to click through.

EDITS: Actually implementing mail reading using Outlook Interop depends on what your definition of 'standalone' means. The Outlook Interop lib requires Outlook to be installed on the client machine in order to function.

// Dumps all email in Outlook to console window.
// Prompts user with warning that an application is attempting to read Outlook data.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Outlook = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;

namespace OutlookEmail
{
class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Outlook.Application app = new Outlook.Application();
        Outlook.NameSpace outlookNs = app.GetNamespace("MAPI");
        Outlook.MAPIFolder emailFolder = outlookNs.GetDefaultFolder(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);

        foreach (Outlook.MailItem item in emailFolder.Items)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(item.SenderEmailAddress + " " + item.Subject + "\n" + item.Body);
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}
}

How to get records of email and user information from outlook 2007 pst file?

in the line below you point it to a folder and not the actual file.

IEnumerable<MailItem> mailItems = readPst(@"C:\Users\Toseef Abbasi\AppData

             \Local\Microsoft\Outlook", "Outltoseefabbasi@hotmail.com-0000000b");

shoud be like below where pstname.pst is the actual pst file.

IEnumerable<MailItem> mailItems = readPst(@"C:\Users\Toseef Abbasi\AppData

             \Local\Microsoft\Outlook\pstname.pst", "Outltoseefabbasi@hotmail.com-0000000b");

Is there a way to import PST files into Outlook using C#?

You can do that the following way:

In your project, right click on "References" and add a reference to the assembly "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook".

Then you can use the following code:

/// <summary>
/// Get a reference to an already running or a newly started Outlook instance
/// </summary>
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application GetOutlookApp()
{
    Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application app = null;

    // Try to get running instance
    try
    {
        app = Marshal.GetActiveObject("Outlook.Application") as Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application;
    }
    catch(Exception)
    {
        // Ignore exception when Outlook is not running
    }

    // When outlook was not running, try to start it
    if(app == null)
    {
        app = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application();
    }

    return app;
}

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    const string fileName = @"D:\MyDings.pst";

    var app = GetOutlookApp();
    var nameSpace = app.GetNamespace("MAPI");

    nameSpace.AddStore(fileName);

    MessageBox.Show("Done");
}

Adding a folder to a pst file from outlook in c#

You need to use Store.GetRootFolder() to get a handle to the root folder of that store (not Store.Session). So you would use:

// create a folder or subfolder in pst    
Outlook.MAPIFolder pstRootFolder = NewPst.GetRootFolder();
Outlook.MAPIFolder NewFolder = pstRootFolder.Folders.Add("New Test Folder");

I recommend bookmarking both of the following: The PIA documentation isn't always complete, so it's worth checking out the COM documentation as well for complete class and member info.

(.NET): Outlook 2007 Primary Interop Assembly Reference
(COM): Outlook Object Model Reference

How can I create an Outlook PST file using .Net?

I was able to piece this code together from a variety of samples around the internet and MSDN docs. This will allow you to choose an outlook high level folder and will backup all folders underneath. In my case I didn't actually want mail folders so I exclude them.

        Const BACKUP_PST_PATH As String = "C:\backup.pst"    

        Dim oFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder = Nothing
        Dim oMailbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder = Nothing

        Dim app As New Outlook.Application()
        Dim ns As Outlook.NameSpace = app.GetNamespace("MAPI")
        Try
            //if the file doesn not exist, outlook will create it
            ns.AddStore(BACKUP_PST_PATH)
            oFolder = ns.Session.Folders.GetLast()
            oMailbox = ns.PickFolder()

         For Each f As Outlook.Folder In oMailbox.Folders
            If f.DefaultItemType <> Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem And f.FolderPath <> oFolder.FolderPath Then
                f.CopyTo(oFolder )
            End If
        Next

        ns.RemoveStore(oFolder)

        Catch ex As Exception
            ns.RemoveStore(oFolder)
            IO.File.Delete(BACKUP_PST_PATH)
            Throw ex
        End Try

Reading an Outlook 2003 OST file

If you want to do it as an exercise you may want to write your own library.

PST format specification
Wiki article on PST and OST file formats
lipff - opensource C library and tools to access the Personal Folder File (PFF) and the Offline Folder File (OFF) format. PFF is used in PAB (Personal Address Book), PST (Personal Storage Table) and OST (Offline Storage Table) files.
PST file format SDK C++. Can read PST and OST files.