How to reduce pst file size?

[Jeff Ingman]

My pst file now exceeds 1.5 gigs…. and is to large to back up online over our
slow internet connection. I need to shrink it.

I have auto-archive set to archive stuff over 6 months old. But I can still
see/access email going back several years from Outlook.

Same for some of my old Calendar entries. (But it doesn't look like all of
them are still there... mainly I see past recurring reminders.)

What's going on in the background? Does archive simply save a copy of the
old stuff… leaving the originals in my pst file?

If I manually delete email older than 6 mos. How could I access it later
from the archive file? And will deleting old email actually shrink the
overall size of my pst file?

One more thing --

I think my online backup software compresses files before it uploads them...
so would there be any value in manually compressing the pst file before
backup?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Right-click on the root folder, Properties ... , General tab, Advanced
button and "Compact now". Deleting doesn't reduce the "white" or wasted
space - compacting does. Compacting is done to some extent in the background
but it is insufficient.

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Thank you Bill. I will compact as you suggest.

However... I would still like to understand what's going on behind the
scenes with Archive.

Why do I still see very old email even when Auto-Archive is supposedly
archiving stuff older than 6 months?

If I delete email older than 6 months... (and then compact again)... will
this shrink my pst file further?

If I need to view the deleted email... how do I do so?

Thanks.

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Where are you getting the 6 months date from? Archiving works on the
modified date so that's what you need to look at.
the les in your data file before compacting the less size.

 

[Jeff Ingman]

The "6 months date" appears to be the default period for Auto Archive... it
says "clean old items out after X months".

I still would like to know what's going on with auto archive. Is email data
actually removed from the primary pst file and transferred to the archive
file. If so... why can I still view and work with email that should have been
archived?

Also a new question... I ran the compact command and went to the folder
where my pst file was. I no longer see a file with a pst extension. I do see
a file with the extension "NK2". Is this my pst file renamed?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Have you checked the modified date of the items you are looking at? Items
won't be moved unless they are older than the *modified* date.
No on your question. If you compact you don't change the PST name. The PST
file should still be there.

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Slowly but surely I'm getting it Bill.

I found my pst file and u are right of course. It still has a pst file
extension.... and it looks like compacting cut the size in half... which is
good.

But I'm still unclear about archiving. When you say "modified" date what do
you mean? I find a "received" and a "created" date for email... (both the
same in all cases I looked at).

Where is the "modified" date and why wouldn't it be the same as
created/received date (unless of course I do modify an email after receiving
or sending it... which I never do)?

In any event... I still see incoming and sent email I moved to folders more
than 6 mos old (based on thecreated/modified dates.

So even though I have auto-archive set at 6 mos (the default) it doesn't
look like this old email is being moved out of the pst file.

Perhaps auto archive isn't working properly... or I don't have the settings
right?

If/when I get auto archive set up properly... and if old email is then
removed from the pst file... will it be easily accessible simply by opening
the archive file?

jeff
......................................

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Bill...

I just read some other posts on this forum which suggested that archived
items will appear in my Outlook Archive folder. But that folder is presently
empty... suggesting that although I thought I had auto archive set to run I
must not have.

So I'm going to try a manual archive to see if my email with old send or
received dates gets moved to the archive folder.

To be continued....

jeff

.........................................

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Bill...

I ran a manual archive... and now see an archive folder with my old email in
it. But the old email still appears in my pst file... so I gather the old
email wasn't moved... it was copied to the archive folder.... right?

I see a setting in the archive menu to delete email during the archive
process. So I gather that if I click this radio button... the email copied to
the archive file will be delted... but I will be able to
see/access/reply/forward etc... the deleted email from the archive folder...
right?

And if I delete the old email from the pst file... (and compact it)... I'll
accomplish my original goal of getting my pst file down to a small enough
size to facilitate backup over my slow internet connection.

Have I correctly stated all above?

jeff
...............................

 

[BillR [MVP]]

1st: wrt modified date: view items in a table view and you can add the
modified field to the view to see the modified date. If items are saved,
copied or moved then the modified date is changed.

Archiving should move items.
How have you archived manually?

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Bill...

I figured out how to display the modified date... but for all my older email
the modified date is "none". This may be due to the fact my hard drive
crashed a few months ago and I had to restore a backup.

In answer to your question I ran a manual archive and the old stuff is now
in the archive folder. It must select based on the sent or received date when
there is no modified date.

It does not appear archiving the way I did reduced the size of my pst file.
Presume this is because I did not select the "permanently delete" option
which I was reluctant to select.

If I want to reduce the pst file size what else need I do at this point?

Should I run archive again and select the delete option? With the delete
option selected will the effect be the same as transferring old email into
the archive folder.

Then I'd compact again and hopefully end up with a much smaller pst file...
right?
........................................

 

[BillR [MVP]]

You need to compact eh PST file. Right-click on the root folder, select
Properties, Select Advanced in the General tab then "compact now", try it a
few times.

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Bill...

Before I compact again... I need to figure out how/why archive is behaving
the way it does.

I indicated below that I still see old email in my regular folders... so I
assumed archiving was simply copying email to my archive folder not actually
moving it there.

But upon further investigation... it looks like archive moved some but not
all my old email... and I can't figure out why. All old email shows a
modified date of "none"... so archive is acting based on something else.

By the way the email I call "old" all has sent/receive dates dating back to
2002. But I've detected no pattern by which archive chooes which "old" email
to move.

Do you have any idea what's going on?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

You should find all the info here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;295657

Unlike what I believed before archiving can indeed use the
"sent date and time, the received date and time, or from the message's
modified date and time, whichever is the later. "

Also,
"Copying or moving the message to another message folder does not always
change the modification date and time. If the destination folder is a
personal folders (.pst) file, the modification date and time does not
change. If the destination folder is a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox or
an offline folders (.ost) file, the modification date and time does change.
"

"does not always" is unclear here. We were lead to believe that it always
did.
Archiving should never copy - it should move.

I think your issue is that some items have a modified date of "none".
If you copy those items to a new folder you should see the modified date
change from none to that day. You could possibly use that method to get
those items with "none" as the modified date to have a modified date.

 

[Brian Tillman]

But upon further investigation... it looks like archive moved some
but not all my old email... and I can't figure out why. All old email
shows a modified date of "none"... so archive is acting based on
something else.

From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295657/en-us :

"When you archive a message folder, Microsoft Outlook determines the message
age from the sent date and time, the received date and time, or from the
message's modified date and time, whichever is the later."

 

[Jeff Ingman]

Brian or Bill...

Since archive did not find/move all my old email... could I simply highlight
and drag/drop from specific inbox personal folders into archive folders?

jeff
................................

 

[Brian Tillman]

Since archive did not find/move all my old email... could I simply
highlight and drag/drop from specific inbox personal folders into
archive folders?

Certainly. An archive PST is just a PST like any other.