Here is a copy of an article I found some time ago. I use if often. Maybe
this will help you with your large pst file:
C.E. Jones
.. BORN AGAIN
Whenever people ask me about Outlook flakiness -
unexplained crashes and freezes, sluggish behavior and the
like - my first recommendation is to create a brand new
outlook.pst file. That sounds like a difficult job, but it
isn't. Here's how you do it:
1. Shut down Outlook.
2. Go into Windows Find (Start/Find/Files or Folders, or
some such), and find outlook.pst. You may have more than
one, in which case you can reincarnate all of them.
Remember where the file is located.
3. Right-click on outlook.pst, click Rename, and give it a
new name - say "Backup 0012.pst".
4. Start Outlook. It'll bellyache and pitch a fit, but just
keep clicking OK or Open - all the defaults - and you'll
be fine.
5. When Outlook appears, it'll be fresh as the virgin snow.
Well, the virgin snow in Colorado, anyway. You New
Yawkers are on your own.
6. Make sure Outlook is showing folders (the way power
users already have it anyway) by clicking View, and
making sure Folder List is checked. Take a look at your
folders list. You'll be adding a new folder, and you'll
want to be able to identify it when it appears.
7. Inside Outlook, Click File, Open, Personal Folders File.
Locate the old outlook.pst file - presumably called
Backup 0012.pst or some such - in the location you noted
in Step 2. Open it. The file will immediately appear in
the Folders List, and it'll be called Outlook Today.
This is the OLD Outlook Today folder - not to be
confused with the new, fresh Outlook Today folder, which
you created back in Step 5.
8. Right-click on this old Outlook Today folder in the
Folders List (make sure you don't get the fresh,
untouched Outlook Today folder), pick Properties and
click Advanced.
9. In the Name box, give the old folder a new name. "Backup
0012" would be appropriate. While you're sitting in this
dialog box anyway, click Compact Now and give Outlook a
minute or two to compact the archive file.
10. Click OK all the way back out. Start playing around
with the old Backup 0012 folder. You'll see that all of
your old stuff is there.
11. If you have any old email you want to put in the new
Outlook Today folder - say, anything in Drafts or in
the Outbox - select all the old messages in Backup
0012, and click and drag them over to the corresponding
folder in Outlook Today. (So you might drag the
messages from the Backup 0012 "Drafts" folder to the
Outlook Today "Drafts" folder.)
12. Copy across all your old Contacts, by selecting all the
old Contacts (use Ctrl+A) in Backup 0012 and dragging
them to the new Contacts folder. Tasks work the same
way.
13. Copying appointments (er, Calendar items) isn't so
easy. First, you have to switch into Appointments View:
click View, Current View, Active Appointments. Then
select all of your appointments (Edit/Select All or
Ctrl+A) and drag them to the new Outlook Folders
Calendar.
In the end you'll have a brand spanking new outlook.pst
that will run like the wind (or at least it won't crash as
often), populated with all of your important pending
messages, and old Contacts, Tasks, and appointments.
Personally, I try to do a full manual backup this way once
a month. It really does make a difference in how well
Outlook works.
