how do I make the data and archive files smaller?

[Brian]

My exsisting pst file is 327 meg
and my archive file is 123 meg. These are quite large and
I wanted to know if there is a way to reduce the size of
these data files without deleting information within the
data files. I tried using the compact files tool but it
did not change the file size in any way, which surprised
me because I thought that was what it was supposed to do.

I appreciate any assistance with this.

Brian

 

[AndreasRoeder]

Hi Brian,
which version do you use?
OL2002 can manage 2GB of datas! OL2003 more than one TB

 

[Brian]

I use office 2003.
It works fine I just wanted to see if I can reduce the
size of these files so my backups would be quicker and
use less space.

Is there a way?

Brian

 

[J. S. Jackson]

You can't compact them any further. You may be confusing the terms "compact"
and "compress". Compacting (which is what you did) only reduces the empty
space in the file which is caused by deleting emails etc. If you have never
deleted any emails, compact won't have any effect.

Whether or not .pst files can (or should) be *compressed*, I don't know.

My wife has a similar problem. She's a medical editor and exchanging very
large files with graphic designers. Her INBOX alone reaches about 5 gigs in
3 months. So she must be quite aggressive in permenently deleting older
emails, or her HDD is very soon full.

I don't really know any solution. Except fighting against the pack rat
instinct inside you and deleting old stuff. If it is business emails that
simply cannot be deleted, you'll have to archive them to CD or whatever?