Overcoming PST file size limitations.

[Garret Swayne]

My outlook.pst file size is over 1.9 GB. My archive.pst file size is around
1.6GB. I understand this is approaching the physical limits that Outlook
can handle. Yet, I don't want to just start deleting items to shrink the
files. These files contain correspondence from maybe the past 10 years that
I certainly don't want to lose. On the contrary, I'd ideally like to be
able to access them with minimal hassle if the need came up. But I know I'm
running out of room with the current .pst files. What's the best way of
handling this situration? Can I just "retire" these files? I could rename
them say "outlook_1.pst" and "archive_1.pst", keep them on my hard drive,
and start a new outlook.pst and archive.pst file, say for the next ten years
of correspondence. And if for some reason, I ever had to access some old
items in the outlook_1.pst file, I could just load that .pst file into
Outlook. It might be clumsy and cumbersome, but it could work, right? (And
if I decided to do that, is there any elegant way of copying my list of
Contacts from my old .pst file to the new .pst file?)
Or is there perhaps some better way to overcome this .pst file size
limitation in Outlook? I'm open to suggestions. If it matters, I'm running
Outlook 2002 on Windows XP Pro.with 512M RAM.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated...
-Garret Swayne
(garret at garretswayne dot com)

 

[Milly Staples - MVP Outlook]

Just choose a new name for each archive .pst file. A friend uses
archive2000.pst to archive items from 2000, archive2001.pst, etc. Perfectly
doable and a reasonable method for using archive.

Also, please take care of your main .pst file ASAP - you have been fortunate
as problems have been reported with as little as 1.6 to 1.7 gigs.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Garret Swayne asked:

| My outlook.pst file size is over 1.9 GB. My archive.pst file size is
| around
| 1.6GB. I understand this is approaching the physical limits that
| Outlook can handle. Yet, I don't want to just start deleting items
| to shrink the files. These files contain correspondence from maybe
| the past 10 years that I certainly don't want to lose. On the
| contrary, I'd ideally like to be able to access them with minimal
| hassle if the need came up. But I know I'm running out of room with
| the current .pst files. What's the best way of handling this
| situration? Can I just "retire" these files? I could rename them
| say "outlook_1.pst" and "archive_1.pst", keep them on my hard drive,
| and start a new outlook.pst and archive.pst file, say for the next
| ten years of correspondence. And if for some reason, I ever had to
| access some old items in the outlook_1.pst file, I could just load
| that .pst file into Outlook. It might be clumsy and cumbersome, but
| it could work, right? (And if I decided to do that, is there any
| elegant way of copying my list of Contacts from my old .pst file to
| the new .pst file?)
| Or is there perhaps some better way to overcome this .pst file size
| limitation in Outlook? I'm open to suggestions. If it matters, I'm
| running Outlook 2002 on Windows XP Pro.with 512M RAM.
| Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated...
| -Garret Swayne
| (garret at garretswayne dot com)

 

[DL]

If it matters, I'm running

Outlook 2002

Sure it matters since an OL2003 unicode pst does not have the same size
limitation

 

[Garret Swayne]

Milly, thanks for the quick response. So I should just rename my archive
file, say, to "archive_1996-2006.pst"? And Outlook will automatically
generate a new archive.pst file and start filling it with spillover from my
current main pst file (outlook.pst)? And that will automatically take care
of the problem with the main pst file, or will further actions be required?

Also, if I ever want to access my old archive, how do I load
archive_1996-2006.pst back into Outlook so I can open or search for old
messages?

I really appreciate your help...

-Garret

 

[DL]

You want to split *any* current pst down to about 1gb, for safety.
I would immediately create a new primary pst, and copy data from your
current pst to this. Again ensure whichever pst you are using is the default
store. Then Compact the pst's
Your main pst would seem extrodinarily large, as you are archiving also, for
a home user.
You can name an archive pst to any name within reason, just ensure your
archive settings point to the correct archive.
You simply open any pst within OL, I currently have the primary, and 4
archive pst's open within OL. It doesnt cause any problems

Milly, thanks for the quick response. So I should just rename my archive
file, say, to "archive_1996-2006.pst"? And Outlook will automatically
generate a new archive.pst file and start filling it with spillover from my
current main pst file (outlook.pst)? And that will automatically take care
of the problem with the main pst file, or will further actions be required?

Also, if I ever want to access my old archive, how do I load
archive_1996-2006.pst back into Outlook so I can open or search for old
messages?

I really appreciate your help...

-Garret



"Milly Staples - MVP Outlook"

wrote in message news:[email protected]...

Just choose a new name for each archive .pst file. A friend uses
archive2000.pst to archive items from 2000, archive2001.pst, etc.
Perfectly
doable and a reasonable method for using archive.

Also, please take care of your main .pst file ASAP - you have been
fortunate
as problems have been reported with as little as 1.6 to 1.7 gigs.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Garret Swayne asked:

| My outlook.pst file size is over 1.9 GB. My archive.pst file size is
| around
| 1.6GB. I understand this is approaching the physical limits that
| Outlook can handle. Yet, I don't want to just start deleting items
| to shrink the files. These files contain correspondence from maybe
| the past 10 years that I certainly don't want to lose. On the
| contrary, I'd ideally like to be able to access them with minimal
| hassle if the need came up. But I know I'm running out of room with
| the current .pst files. What's the best way of handling this
| situration? Can I just "retire" these files? I could rename them
| say "outlook_1.pst" and "archive_1.pst", keep them on my hard drive,
| and start a new outlook.pst and archive.pst file, say for the next
| ten years of correspondence. And if for some reason, I ever had to
| access some old items in the outlook_1.pst file, I could just load
| that .pst file into Outlook. It might be clumsy and cumbersome, but
| it could work, right? (And if I decided to do that, is there any
| elegant way of copying my list of Contacts from my old .pst file to
| the new .pst file?)
| Or is there perhaps some better way to overcome this .pst file size
| limitation in Outlook? I'm open to suggestions. If it matters, I'm
| running Outlook 2002 on Windows XP Pro.with 512M RAM.
| Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated...
| -Garret Swayne
| (garret at garretswayne dot com)

 

[Brian Tillman]

Milly, thanks for the quick response. So I should just rename my
archive file, say, to "archive_1996-2006.pst"? And Outlook will
automatically generate a new archive.pst file and start filling it
with spillover from my current main pst file (outlook.pst)?

Yes, but do so while Outlook is closed and do NOT do it if you've opened the
archive PST so that it can be seen in the Folder List. If you've opened it,
first close it in Outlook with right-click>Close. Then close Outlook and
rename it. An archive PST does not have to be open in the Folder List in
order for Outlook to use it.

And that
will automatically take care of the problem with the main pst file,
or will further actions be required?

Only if more items get archived.

Also, if I ever want to access my old archive, how do I load
archive_1996-2006.pst back into Outlook so I can open or search for
old messages?

File>Open>Outlook Data File (or Personal Folders File, depending on your
Outlook version).

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In

My outlook.pst file size is over 1.9 GB. My archive.pst file size is
around 1.6GB. I understand this is approaching the physical limits that
Outlook can handle. Yet, I don't want to just start deleting items
to shrink the files. These files contain correspondence from maybe
the past 10 years that I certainly don't want to lose. On the
contrary, I'd ideally like to be able to access them with minimal
hassle if the need came up. But I know I'm running out of room with
the current .pst files. What's the best way of handling this
situration? Can I just "retire" these files? I could rename them
say "outlook_1.pst" and "archive_1.pst", keep them on my hard drive,
and start a new outlook.pst and archive.pst file, say for the next
ten years of correspondence. And if for some reason, I ever had to
access some old items in the outlook_1.pst file, I could just load
that .pst file into Outlook. It might be clumsy and cumbersome, but
it could work, right? (And if I decided to do that, is there any
elegant way of copying my list of Contacts from my old .pst file to
the new .pst file?) Or is there perhaps some better way to overcome this
.pst file size
limitation in Outlook? I'm open to suggestions. If it matters, I'm
running Outlook 2002 on Windows XP Pro.with 512M RAM.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated...
-Garret Swayne
(garret at garretswayne dot com)

In addition to the other sage replies, you should note that in OL2003 you
can create new PST files that do not have the 2GB limitation. I still
recommend keeping the files small, but it's nice to know you won't have a
file completely blow up just because it got to the 2gb limit (really more of
a 1.5 - 1.7GB one, in my experience).