Difference in folder size and pst file size

[Joel]

My Outlook 2007 folders were getting a bit massive (>7Gig) so I thought I
would backup all my older mail to a backup folder which seemed to go
according to plan. If I now click on the folder size option it tells me that
they are a more management 700MB, the problem is that my outlook.pst file is
still over 7gb (along with the 5.5GB backup.pst file).

Any idea why there is this discontinuity?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

This is because a pst-file is a database and the white space created by
deleted items is not directly returned to the disk after deleting something.
It will truncate itself over time or you can force it via Compact Now;
right click on the root of your folder set-> Properties-> button Advanced->
button Compact Now

As you've removed over 5GB of data, this process could take a considerable
amount of time. You might want to do this at night instead.

 

[DL]

By backup what do you mean exactly or how did you do it?
Usually you use Archive, which by default creates a data file named
Archive.pst

 

[Gordon]

My Outlook 2007 folders were getting a bit massive (>7Gig) so I thought I
would backup all my older mail to a backup folder which seemed to go
according to plan. If I now click on the folder size option it tells me
that
they are a more management 700MB, the problem is that my outlook.pst file
is
still over 7gb (along with the 5.5GB backup.pst file).

Any idea why there is this discontinuity?

Any backup function normally does NOT remove or do anything to the original
data. We need to know exactly what you mean by "backup", and if all you did
was make a "backup" why you thought it would move data from one location to
another...

 

[Joel]

By Backup I mean I created a data file and moved all the old stuff into it. I
can't imagine I would need any of the mail again but just in case I feel
safer having it kicking around somewhere. I wanted something a bit more
intelligent than the archive functionality as some older stuff I wanted to
keep, some of the bigger new files needed moving etc.

 

[Gordon]

By Backup I mean I created a data file and moved all the old stuff into
it. I
can't imagine I would need any of the mail again but just in case I feel
safer having it kicking around somewhere. I wanted something a bit more
intelligent than the archive functionality as some older stuff I wanted to
keep, some of the bigger new files needed moving etc.

:

Two questions - one, a bit OT, what EXACTLY do you mean by "created a data
file and moved all the old stuff into it" - describe exactly what you did,
and secondly, are you ABSOLUTELY sure you MOVED the data and didn't just
copy it?

 

[Joel]

File - > New -> Outlook Data file

Yes they are moved, as in they are no longer present in the personal
folders, plus the size of the personal folders has (acording to outlook)
dropped by an order of magnitude.