Contact Field Size Limits

[Stuart Troy]

Hi,

I'm looking for a table of field character limits in Outlook.
In particular I'd like to know the character limitation in the Contact Notes
field.

What I'm finding is if you TYPE into the Contact Notes field, it seems to
allow 7,245,252 characters. But if you PASTE into the Contact Notes field,
it only accepts the first 1,048,576

The reason for my query is to do with syncing with Nokia devices. They are
imposing their own field size limitations, and it's causing text to be
truncated when syncing.

Thanks for your help.

Stuart Troy
Sydney AUSTRALIA

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Don't know explicitly what Outlook sets as size limits for text fields in
its various versions but your problem is not with what Outlook allows but
rather what the target of that data accepts in terms of data limits. Nokia's
limits are their own just as I suspect that the "Paste" function only pastes
1mb of data (never checked it personally so assuming your description to be
correct. Don't have a test file handy at the moment with a 1mb+ field to
check the limits of the Paste function)

In database terms (using MS Access definitions for sake of simplicity) - the
size of text field is 255 characters whereas a "memo" field (or extended
text field which can contain all kinds of different types of data - letters,
numbers images etc) is defined as follows:

"Up to 63,999 characters. (If the Memo field is manipulated through DAO and
only text and numbers [not binary data] will be stored in it, then the size
of the Memo field is limited by the size of the database.)"

In short - regardless of how much Outlook will store, doesn't matter if the
target doesn't accept it and there are numerous things that Outlook allows
that make database programs very unhappy. When you get into "syncing" with
devices that generally have limited memory - not uncommon for the devices to
allow only enough data per field to give an idea as to content versus
downloading everything for a single contact which allows you to download
more contacts overall within the capacity of its available memory.

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[Stuart Troy]

Hi Karl,

Thank you for your response, but I am seeking explicit details on the field
data lengths imposed by Outlook 2003. Specifically the fields related to
Contacts.

Anyone?

Stuart Troy
Sydney, Australia

Don't know explicitly what Outlook sets as size limits for text fields in
its various versions but your problem is not with what Outlook allows but
rather what the target of that data accepts in terms of data limits. Nokia's
limits are their own just as I suspect that the "Paste" function only pastes
1mb of data (never checked it personally so assuming your description to be
correct. Don't have a test file handy at the moment with a 1mb+ field to
check the limits of the Paste function)

In database terms (using MS Access definitions for sake of simplicity) - the
size of text field is 255 characters whereas a "memo" field (or extended
text field which can contain all kinds of different types of data - letters,
numbers images etc) is defined as follows:

"Up to 63,999 characters. (If the Memo field is manipulated through DAO and
only text and numbers [not binary data] will be stored in it, then the size
of the Memo field is limited by the size of the database.)"

In short - regardless of how much Outlook will store, doesn't matter if the
target doesn't accept it and there are numerous things that Outlook allows
that make database programs very unhappy. When you get into "syncing" with
devices that generally have limited memory - not uncommon for the devices to
allow only enough data per field to give an idea as to content versus
downloading everything for a single contact which allows you to download
more contacts overall within the capacity of its available memory.

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

Hi,

I'm looking for a table of field character limits in Outlook.
In particular I'd like to know the character limitation in the Contact
Notes
field.

What I'm finding is if you TYPE into the Contact Notes field, it seems to
allow 7,245,252 characters. But if you PASTE into the Contact Notes
field,
it only accepts the first 1,048,576

The reason for my query is to do with syncing with Nokia devices. They
are
imposing their own field size limitations, and it's causing text to be
truncated when syncing.

Thanks for your help.

Stuart Troy
Sydney AUSTRALIA

 

[Karl Timmermans]

Let me rephrase my original answer about explicit field size limits re: text
fields - don't know of any "practical" limit on a "per field" basis -
leastwise none that I've ever seen published anywhere.

The basic premise in your question is that "explicit" and "absolute" field
sizes exist/are imposed (which would hold true for all non-text fields, i.e.
boolean, date, number etc). However, there are a myriad of factors that come
into play with "text" fields that include the infostore used (PST Type, Exch
etc), transport mode, data access mode, custom form usage, online or
offline, combined with overall capacity size limits of the info-store etc.

However, if there is a published spec for text fields that identifies an
absolute finite size for text fields under any condition that anyone is
aware of - certainly would also be interested in finding that info out.

Karl
___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

Hi Karl,

Thank you for your response, but I am seeking explicit details on the
field
data lengths imposed by Outlook 2003. Specifically the fields related to
Contacts.

Anyone?

Stuart Troy
Sydney, Australia

Don't know explicitly what Outlook sets as size limits for text fields in
its various versions but your problem is not with what Outlook allows but
rather what the target of that data accepts in terms of data limits.
Nokia's
limits are their own just as I suspect that the "Paste" function only
pastes
1mb of data (never checked it personally so assuming your description to
be
correct. Don't have a test file handy at the moment with a 1mb+ field to
check the limits of the Paste function)

In database terms (using MS Access definitions for sake of simplicity) -
the
size of text field is 255 characters whereas a "memo" field (or extended
text field which can contain all kinds of different types of data -
letters,
numbers images etc) is defined as follows:

"Up to 63,999 characters. (If the Memo field is manipulated through DAO
and
only text and numbers [not binary data] will be stored in it, then the
size
of the Memo field is limited by the size of the database.)"

In short - regardless of how much Outlook will store, doesn't matter if
the
target doesn't accept it and there are numerous things that Outlook
allows
that make database programs very unhappy. When you get into "syncing"
with
devices that generally have limited memory - not uncommon for the devices
to
allow only enough data per field to give an idea as to content versus
downloading everything for a single contact which allows you to download
more contacts overall within the capacity of its available memory.

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

Hi,

I'm looking for a table of field character limits in Outlook.
In particular I'd like to know the character limitation in the Contact
Notes
field.

What I'm finding is if you TYPE into the Contact Notes field, it seems
to
allow 7,245,252 characters. But if you PASTE into the Contact Notes
field,
it only accepts the first 1,048,576

The reason for my query is to do with syncing with Nokia devices. They
are
imposing their own field size limitations, and it's causing text to be
truncated when syncing.

Thanks for your help.

Stuart Troy
Sydney AUSTRALIA