How to organize contents of old PST files?

[tbartlett]

I am a non-professional homeuser of Outlook, but I've used it for
about a decade now, because I like the contacts, calendar and the
functionality. In the past I usually closed off a PST file when it
reached about 1 gig in size. By now I've accumulated several dozen
old PST files, amounting to 65 gigabytes of data; in the vast majority
of cases the folders and messages remain as they were when I used the
file. Many of the files are named for a certain period of time, some
are not. I now have a problem: I want to find some old
correspondence, but don't know a good way to search the contents of
these files. Is there some program that can do that without installing
the PST files again in Outlook? If not, then another presumably I'll
need to install these files in Outlook and somehow reorganize their
contents. That willl probvably be tedious but may yield a much more
easily accessible set of data than I have now. If I do this, what
procedures are recommended?

 

[DL]

To reorganise you will have to open the data files within Outlook
The version of Outlook being used may have a baring on performance if a
large number/size are opened
Any of the Various DeskTop Search apps will index and search the data Files,
I prefer Copernic

 

[tcbartlett]

Thanks for the tip. I'm using Outlook 2007, so I understand there's
no limit on the size of PST file. But maybe that's a theoretical
limit.

 

[DL]

You should be fine with 2007

Thanks for the tip. I'm using Outlook 2007, so I understand there's
no limit on the size of PST file. But maybe that's a theoretical
limit.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

In this case I would recommend to create a separate "Archive" mail profile.
For details see;
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/335

 

[Thomas Bartlett]

At the linked webpage http://www.msoutlook.info/question/335, the relevant
passage on creating an Achive mail profile instructs me to attach archive
PST files to Outlook by using the sequence File > Open > Open data file.

Actually, I have already created the archive mail profile and attached about
five archive PST files to it by using the sequence File > Data File
Management > Account Settings / Add (file) button.

I suppose the result will be the same as if I attached the files by the
sequence given in the instructions, right? That is (and this is the
critical point), Outlook will still index the data files, right?

Or will Outlook only index the attached data files if they are attached by
means of the procedural sequence File > Open > Open data file?

Create an Archive mail profile
If you want to use an indexed searched then another approach would be to
create a separate mail profile with all the archive pst-files attached to
it. To search in your archives, you'll have to restart Outlook and choose
the Archive mail profile upon startup.
When creating a separate mail profile for archiving you can use Control
Panel-> Mail-> button View Profiles. . Cancel through the account
configuration screens and Outlook will ask you if you really want to create
a mail profile without any mail account configured with it; choose OK.

When you now start Outlook with that Archive mail profile you can attach
your archived pst-files via;
File-> Open-> Outlook Data File.

Make sure you leave Outlook open long enough the first time to get
everything indexed.

Note: For more details about creating an additional mail profile see this
guide.

 

[Thomas Bartlett]

I have created an Achive mail profile and attached 19 files in it. Outlook
has been open for about 12 hours since I attached the files, and now reports
that it is still indexing the contents of these files. It says that over
"626,070 items remaining over all open mailboxes". Shortly after I attached
the files I started a search. Several hours later, the search had
identified a couple of dozen items, but was evidently incomplete. Realizing
then how complex the whole process is (maybe better to say 'two processes
are' i.e. indexing and searching), I cancelled the search, hoping the
indexing would be completed faster thereby. I'm not impatient, because I
anticipate that a full index of these 19 files, whenever it's finished, will
give me complete access to all my email since 1995, which is my goal.

Does the number 626,070 as quoted above mean that these have been indexed
already, or these remain to be indexed? Should I expect this number to
increase or decline as the indexing proceeds?

 

[Thomas Bartlett]

30 minutes after sending the post below, Outlook now reports 619,000 items
remaining to be indexed. That is, it has indexed about 6,000 items in 30
minutes. At that rate, it will take about 50 hours to complete indexing the
whole lot. A longer wait than I would have wished, but if it brings me the
access I want, it may be worth the wait.

But my ISP server's storage limit will be reached within five days, even if
I cull the unwanted items, and new mail will begin to be sent back to
senders; I don't want that to happen.

So, if I close the Archive profile, then open my regular mail profile to
download mail, then reopen the Archive, will the indexing done to date be
saved and resumed when the Archive profile is reopened? If so, does that
happen automatically, or do I need to take some action, to resume the
indexing?