PST Strategies

[sylvaticus]

Tonight I'll be buying Vista Utimate and Office 2007 Ultimate.

I like the idea of creating a new .pst file for each year: 2006.pst,
2007.pst, etc. Is this a bad idea? It keeps files small, and seems to me it
would help avoid corruption of the DB.

I assume I would have to import contacts and calendar entries each year?

Or, will Archive allow me to create yearly archive files?

Whether I annually create a new .pst or archive file, will the new Desktop
Search be able to find emails, or will it only work with a file named
outlook.pst. For that matter, will Outlook insist on that?

Thanks for any .pst strategies you can offer. I can't wait for tonight!!

Keith

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You can certainly create a new PST file each year if you want, but it seems
an unnecessary strategy that I've never seen anyone employ. Simply archiving
messages is what most people do if they are worried about PST file size,
since messages are what change the most and what contribute the most to file
size. Your other data is relatively static. "DB corruption" can be avoided
by running the Inbox Repair Tool periodically and can be mitigated entirely
by frequent backups of your PST file. That's the most important thing you
can do before you change operating system or Office version.

If for some reason you decide you want a new PST file anyway, you should
never import data to the new file. Doing so will lose or misplace a lot of
your data. You simply copy and paste what you want from the old file into
the new.
Take a look at these pages for info on Outlook data backup or transfer:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

 

[sylvaticus]

Russ,

Thanks. Since I've never archived mail before (the .pst file is just over
700MB), can I create 2005 Archive.pst, 2006 Archive.pst, etc? I assume I want
to keep the archive to a manageable size as well.

I do have an older .pst file in addition to my current one. Do you know:
will Desktop Search (Live?) find their contents?

I'm less interested in backing up per se, as I assume Live OneCare will
handle that. I'm more interested in preventing the creation of one giant mail
file (production or archive), but making sure that Desktop Search will help
me sift through the mountains of mail I get--and keep.

Again my thanks for your time and help,

Keith

You can certainly create a new PST file each year if you want, but it seems
an unnecessary strategy that I've never seen anyone employ. Simply archiving
messages is what most people do if they are worried about PST file size,
since messages are what change the most and what contribute the most to file
size. Your other data is relatively static. "DB corruption" can be avoided
by running the Inbox Repair Tool periodically and can be mitigated entirely
by frequent backups of your PST file. That's the most important thing you
can do before you change operating system or Office version.

If for some reason you decide you want a new PST file anyway, you should
never import data to the new file. Doing so will lose or misplace a lot of
your data. You simply copy and paste what you want from the old file into
the new.
Take a look at these pages for info on Outlook data backup or transfer:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Tonight I'll be buying Vista Utimate and Office 2007 Ultimate.

I like the idea of creating a new .pst file for each year: 2006.pst,
2007.pst, etc. Is this a bad idea? It keeps files small, and seems to me
it
would help avoid corruption of the DB.

I assume I would have to import contacts and calendar entries each year?

Or, will Archive allow me to create yearly archive files?

Whether I annually create a new .pst or archive file, will the new Desktop
Search be able to find emails, or will it only work with a file named
outlook.pst. For that matter, will Outlook insist on that?

Thanks for any .pst strategies you can offer. I can't wait for tonight!!

Keith

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook 2007 uses Vista's new search engine, but you would need to do your
searches within Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Russ,

Thanks. Since I've never archived mail before (the .pst file is just over
700MB), can I create 2005 Archive.pst, 2006 Archive.pst, etc? I assume I
want
to keep the archive to a manageable size as well.

I do have an older .pst file in addition to my current one. Do you know:
will Desktop Search (Live?) find their contents?

I'm less interested in backing up per se, as I assume Live OneCare will
handle that. I'm more interested in preventing the creation of one giant
mail
file (production or archive), but making sure that Desktop Search will
help
me sift through the mountains of mail I get--and keep.

Again my thanks for your time and help,

Keith

You can certainly create a new PST file each year if you want, but it
seems
an unnecessary strategy that I've never seen anyone employ. Simply
archiving
messages is what most people do if they are worried about PST file size,
since messages are what change the most and what contribute the most to
file
size. Your other data is relatively static. "DB corruption" can be
avoided
by running the Inbox Repair Tool periodically and can be mitigated
entirely
by frequent backups of your PST file. That's the most important thing you
can do before you change operating system or Office version.

If for some reason you decide you want a new PST file anyway, you should
never import data to the new file. Doing so will lose or misplace a lot
of
your data. You simply copy and paste what you want from the old file into
the new.
Take a look at these pages for info on Outlook data backup or transfer:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Tonight I'll be buying Vista Utimate and Office 2007 Ultimate.

I like the idea of creating a new .pst file for each year: 2006.pst,
2007.pst, etc. Is this a bad idea? It keeps files small, and seems to
me
it
would help avoid corruption of the DB.

I assume I would have to import contacts and calendar entries each
year?

Or, will Archive allow me to create yearly archive files?

Whether I annually create a new .pst or archive file, will the new
Desktop
Search be able to find emails, or will it only work with a file named
outlook.pst. For that matter, will Outlook insist on that?

Thanks for any .pst strategies you can offer. I can't wait for
tonight!!

Keith