Outlook 2003 .PST files still hitting a 2GB limit

[Stephen Porter]

I've replaced several installations of Outlook 2000-2002 with 2003, largely
because we needed to expand beyond the 2GB .PST file limit. Just recently
one of the installs popped up with the error about the size being too big.
We were able to recover this by deleting some items. The actual file size
is about 1.75 GB at this point.

I thought that Outlook 2003 had a 20GB limit. Did I miss something? When
I created the new .PST files in 2003 I chose the Outlook 97-2002 file,
because I thought that was needed. Should I have chosen the other choice
(can't recall it right now)??

What procedure should I follow to "convert" the existing 1.75GB file to the
new, larger format?

Thanks in advance.

Stephen Porter
Los Angeles, CA
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Brian Tillman]

I've replaced several installations of Outlook 2000-2002 with 2003,
largely because we needed to expand beyond the 2GB .PST file limit.
Just recently one of the installs popped up with the error about the
size being too big. We were able to recover this by deleting some
items. The actual file size is about 1.75 GB at this point.

I thought that Outlook 2003 had a 20GB limit. Did I miss something?

Yes. You missed the fact that the PST limit is inherent in the format of
the PST, not in Outlook.

When I created the new .PST files in 2003 I chose the Outlook 97-2002
file, because I thought that was needed. Should I have chosen the
other choice (can't recall it right now)??

You shoujld have chosen the other format, since it is that format that has
the higher limitation.

What procedure should I follow to "convert" the existing 1.75GB file
to the new, larger format?

Posted in these newsgroups multiple times. Google Groups is your friend.

 

[Stephen Porter]

Thanks...I'm figuring out now...a bit late.

Would it work to just make a copy of the current .PST file in another
location and then create a new data file inside Outlook that references that
copy. And of course choose the correct (new) file format? Then I could
change the default mail location and then close the original one?

For some reason I thought that I *HAD* to choose the original file format
and that Outlook 2003 would automatically convert. Wrong.

stp

 

[Brian Tillman]

Would it work to just make a copy of the current .PST file in another
location and then create a new data file inside Outlook that
references that copy. And of course choose the correct (new) file
format? Then I could change the default mail location and then
close the original one?

A data file IS a PST. You can't create a "reference" from one PST to
another.

You have to create a new PST in the correct format, make it your delivery
location (if you're currently using a PST as the delivery location), and
then copy everything from the old one to the new one. For the non-default
folders, you can copy the entire folder. For the default folders, you have
to open each and copy the contents to the corresponding default folder in
the new PST. When you're done, you can close the old PST.