Outlook 2003 infrequently sluggish and halts

[Pearl]

I think I know what the problem is with my buddies Outlook but want to get
some confirmation. He has a laptop with Office 2003Pro. The laptop has 1gb
of RAM and lots of disk space free. His outlook has 2 connected PST folders
(the first is 1.8gb large and the second is 700gb large). His main
Outlook.pst file is 1.8gb large.

He notices that after a period of time (and, there isn't a regular pattern),
when he opens a message to reply or creates a new email that the message
freezes for a time (sometimes its just for a few minutes and other times it
may be for 10-15min). Eventually, it will regain functionality, however. He
tells me that this seemingly does not occur immediately...only after a while.

I've seen it happen so it's not a fluke.

Nothing else on his computer appears to be a problem.

I've set his Outlook security to Internet and removed some connected addins.
Yet, the problem persists.

My theory is that the problem really lies in the size of the PST files. I
believe what he needs to do is prune his Outlook.pst and if that doesn't
reduce the size much I've told him he may have to create several other local
PST files and start moving messages into the new PST file so his Outlook.PST
is much less in size....I told him to try to get it under 1gb.

What do you think?

 

[DL]

Assuming the pst files are in unicode format (default 2003 format) and not
old ansi code files the sizes are not large
Check properties/advanced, within OL, of the 1.8gb if it states for format
97-2002 then you need to create a new pst and drag all info from that old
pst to the new, then close the old pst.

You could also try running scanpst.exe, with OL closed, on the pst's see if
it fixes anything.
Maybe also try starting OL with the Safe switch and see if problems are
replicated

 

[Pearl]

The PST files appear to be all UniCode. I ran a ScanPST and one of the PST
files did reveal errors. I backed it up and ran a repair. The rest appear
fine. I also tried to run Outlook with the Safe switch and all appears
fine.

One curious note: I was told awhile back that PST files have 2gb limit.
Not true?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

The PST files appear to be all UniCode. I ran a ScanPST and one of the PST
files did reveal errors. I backed it up and ran a repair. The rest appear
fine. I also tried to run Outlook with the Safe switch and all appears
fine.

One curious note: I was told awhile back that PST files have 2gb limit.
Not true?

Unicode PSTs don't have the 2GB limit.

In your initial message you said one of the PSTs was 700GB. Did you actually
mean 700MB?

 

[Pearl]

Brian,
Thanks. And, yes...my bad. it was 700mb.

Unicode is not 2gb.....is there a limit on UniCoded PSTs?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Unicode is not 2gb.....is there a limit on UniCoded PSTs?

The default maximum size for Unicode PSTs is 20GB but it can be increased with
registry settings. The theoretical limit something like is two terabytes.

 

[Pearl]

Brian,
Very enlightening. I presume that while the default max is 20gb that there
is still a practical sizing limit for Outlook 2003, isn't there? It is hard
for me to even consider letting someone build up a 20gb PST file for the
emails. Surely, there is going to be problems as they approach a certain
size. Or is there? Also, are you speaking of a situation where Outlook is
the client for Exchange or as a standalone email client (as I am speaking
here)

Thanks

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Very enlightening. I presume that while the default max is 20gb that there
is still a practical sizing limit for Outlook 2003, isn't there? It is
hard
for me to even consider letting someone build up a 20gb PST file for the
emails. Surely, there is going to be problems as they approach a certain
size. Or is there? Also, are you speaking of a situation where Outlook is
the client for Exchange or as a standalone email client (as I am speaking
here)

Some people have reported seeing a slowdown in performance in the
multi-gigabyte range, but I don't think there's anything definitive.

 

[wangdong]

Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions limit the size of Personal
Folders (PST) file to 2GB. Whenever the PST file reaches or exceeds
that limit, you will not be able to open or load it any more, or you
cannot add any new data to it. This is called oversized PST file
problem. More detailed information can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/2gb-pst.htm

You can use Advanced Outlook Repair to solve the problem, by either
converting it into Outlook 2003 format ( http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/convert-2gb-pst.htm
), or splitting it into smaller pieces ( http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/split-2gb-pst.htm
)

http://www.datanumen.com/aor/ contains the detailed information about
Advanced Outlook Repair.

And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/aor.exe

W.d