view contrib/FILE-FORMAT @ 390:5c0ce43c7532

Fix a number of spelling mistakes Changes-by: codespell -w Suggested-by: codespell, spellintian, lintian I: libpst4: spelling-error-in-binary usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpst.so.4.1.14 occured occurred I: libpst-dev: spelling-error-in-manpage usr/share/man/man5/outlook.pst.5.gz Attachement Attachment
author Paul Wise <pabs3@bonedaddy.net>
date Sat, 21 Dec 2019 21:25:45 +0800
parents c508ee15dfca
children f2742d1160a4
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File format for Outlook pst files
=================================

Basically, we work on two indexes. One index associates an ID with each item, and the second index associates a second ID with the original ID. I see no real purpose for this yet.

0x00 - Signature [4 bytes] (0x4E444221)
0xA8 - File Size [4 bytes]
0xC4 - Pointer to Index of all Items in File, associating the first ID [4 bytes]
0xBC - Pointer to Index of controlling Items in File [4 bytes]

First All Items Index: - consists of a table of offsets pointing to the table of items.
======================
repeating:
0x0  - First id in this table   [4 bytes]
0x04 - Unknown                  [4 bytes]
0x08 - Offset of table          [4 bytes]

until "First id in this table" is zero

Table Of Items: - Pointed to by above records.
===============
repeating:
0x0  - Id1 of this item           [4 bytes]
0x04 - Offset of this item        [4 bytes]
0x08 - Size of data stored there  [2 bytes]
0x0A - Unknown                    [2 bytes]

until "Id1 of this item" is zero. When this is reached, you return to the above table and read the next record

Second All Items Index: - Contains the descriptors for emails, and other items
=======================
repeating:
0x0  - First id2 of this table  [4 bytes]
0x04 - Unknown                  [4 bytes]
0x08 - Offset of table          [4 bytes]

until "First id2 of this table" is zero

Second Table of Items: - Pointed to by above records
======================
repeats 0x1F times
0x0  - Id2 of this item           [4 bytes]
0x04 - Id1 of the descriptor item [4 bytes]
0x08 - Id1 of the associated list [4 bytes] (this contains a list of id1 and id2 that are to with this controlling item)
0x0C - Id2 of parent              [4 bytes]


Associated List: - pointed to by the above record. Contains associations between id1 and id2 for the items controlled by the record
================
0x0  - Constant [2 bytes]  (0x0002)
0x02 - Count    [2 bytes] (the number of items that are about to follow)

repeating
0x0 - Id2 of record   [4 bytes]
0x04 - Id of record   [4 bytes] - This is an association between the two
0x08 - Unknown        [4 bytes]
until you have reached the "Count"


Descriptor Item: - Referenced from "Second Table of Items" - contains information about the item (email, contact...)
================
0x0  - Block Offset to Block Index  [2 bytes]
0x02 - Constant                     [2 bytes] (0xBCEC)
0x04 - Index Pos of Section1        [4 bytes]

NOTE: An index pos can be shifted left 4 times [ i_pos << 4 ] to get an index offset (ie, an offset from the start of the block index)


Block Index: - contains offsets to points in the current block
============
0x0 - Count of offsets minus one. [2 bytes] (In effect, each offset must be taken with the following one so that the start and end of the referenced item can be established. Therefore there is one extra to show the end of the last item.)

repeating
0x0  - Block Offset [2 bytes]
until you have one extra than the "Count"


Section1: - Referenced from "Descriptor Item" - contains not much
=========
0x0  - Constant? [4 bytes] (0x0602B5)
0x04 - Index Pos of Descriptor fields [4 bytes]


Descriptor Fields: - Contain the information needed to access the details of the email
==================
repeats
0x0  - Item type        [2 bytes] (subject, from, to ...)
0x02 - Reference type   [2 bytes] (how to interpret the value)
0x04 - Value            [4 bytes]
until the allotted size of the record has been read. (The following Block Offset from the Index has been reached)

Reference Types: - I don't know if I have interpreted this field correctly. It might have a completely different purpose
===============
0x0002 -
0x0003 - Value following is a value in it's own right
0x000B -
0x001E - (STRING) Value following is a Index Position (must be shifted left 4 times)
0x0040 - (DATE)       "         "              "              "              "
0x0048 -
0x0102 - (STRUCTURE)  "         "              "              "              "
0x1003 - 
0x101E - (ARRAY OF STRING)
0x1102 -

Value:
======
When the value is of type Index Position, you can left shift the value 4 times to get an offset into the Block Index. Some descriptor types can have Id2 values. This is recognised by using a bitwise AND with the number. ie val & 0x0000000F. if the result is 0xF, it is likely to be a Id2 reference.


Descriptor Types: - Types that are in "Descriptor Fields"
=================

All Values are Hex

Note: it appears that some types can have a IPOS value or a ID2 value depending on the size of the field in question. It is safer to check every field than for me to say what the "usually" contain. Absolute values though, are generally going to be constant.

Type  Ref Type  Value   Desc
----  --------  -----   ----
001A  		[REF]	IPM Context. What type of message is this
0037  001E      [REF]   Email Subject. The referenced item is of type "Subject Type"
0039 		[REF]	Date. This is likely to be the arrival date
003B		[REF]	Outlook Address of Sender
003F		[REF]	Outlook structure describing the recipient
0040		[REF]	Name of the Outlook recipient structure
0041		[REF]	Outlook structure describing the sender
0042		[REF]	Name of the Outlook sender structure
0043		[REF]	Another structure describing the recipient
0044		[REF]	Name of the second recipient structure
004F		[REF]	Reply-To Outlook Structure
0050		[REF]	Name of the Reply-To structure
0051		[REF]	Outlook Name of recipient
0052		[REF]	Second Outlook name of recipient
0064		[REF]	Sender's Address access method (SMTP, EX)
0065		[REF]	Sender's Address
0070		[REF]	Processed Subject (with Fwd:, Re, ... removed)
0071		[REF]	Date. Another date
0075		[REF]	Recipient Address Access Method (SMTP, EX)
0076		[REF]	Recipient's Address
0077		[REF] 	Second Recipient Access Method (SMTP, EX)
0078		[REF]	Second Recipient Address
007D  001E      [REF]   Email Header. This is the header that was attached to the email
0C19		[REF]	Second sender struct
0C1A		[REF]	Name of second sender struct
0C1D		[REF]	Second outlook name of sender
0C1E		[REF]	Second sender access method (SMTP, EX)
0C1F		[REF]	Second Sender Address
0E03		[REF]	CC Address?
0E04		[REF]	SentTo Address
0E06		[REF]	Date.
0E07		[REF]	Flag - contains IsSeen value
0FF9		[REF]	binary record header
1000  001E      [REF]   Plain Text Email Body. Does not exist if the email doesn't have a plain text version
1013  001E      [REF]   HTML Email Body. Does not exist if the email doesn't have a HTML version
1035		[REF]	Message ID
1042		[REF]	In-Reply-To or Parent's Message ID
1046		[REF]	Return Path
3001		[REF]	Folder Name? I have seen this value used for the contacts record as well
3007		[REF]	Date.
3008		[REF]	Date.
300B		[REF]	binary record header
35E0		[REF]	binary record found in first item. Contains the reference to "Top of Personal Folder" item
35E3		[REF]	binary record with a reference to "Deleted Items" item
35E7		[REF]	binary record with a reference to "Search Root" item
3602		[REF]	the number of emails stored in a folder
3603		[REF]	the number of unread emails in a folder
3613		[REF]	the folder content description
8000-			Contain extra bits of information that have been taken from the email's header. I call them extra lines

Key:
[REF]  = Can be either Index Position, or an Id2 Reference