Methods to Deal with a Large Outlook PST File

MS Outlook is preferred email client in many organization for doing inter-office and intra-office communications. All the outlook data is stored in an organized manner in a PST file. This PST file stores all kind of outlook data like mails, contacts, calendar, notes, etc in it. However, the biggest drawback PS file carries is its size limit imposed by default in all Outlook versions. Constant use of PST file increase its size and sometimes in happens that PST size increase beyond its limit. This oversize PST creates performance issues in Outlook and can result in losing inaccessibility to the entire Outlook data. Let us understand the whole story:

Microsoft Outlook 2002 and its earlier versions come with PST capable to contain 2 GB of data. On the other hand, PST in Outlook 2003 & Outlook 2007 is able to store 20 GB, while Outlook 2010/2013 PST can store 50 GB of data. The most important thing to know is that the file gets corrupt when reaches or exceeds the prescribed limit. From user end, it is obvious that the data will increase each day and cannot be controlled. All you can do is manage PST file in a way that it keeps on containing data and stays away from corruption.

Yes, it is possible to manage a large PST by splitting it. When you split a PST, it gets distributed in several smaller files and this is how the technique eliminates the size problem. The following section will show how you can split a large PST file in Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013:

Step 1: Start Microsoft Outlook with the user profile that has a large PST.

Step 2: Click the 'File' tab, and then click 'Info'.

Step 3: Click on 'Cleanup Tools', and then click on 'Archive'.

Step 4: Do the following in the appeared dialog box:

·         Select the 'Archive this folder and all subfolder' option.

·         A folder list will be displayed, select the target .pst file from the list.

·       In the 'Archive items older than' drop-down, set a date range during which the items will be archived.

·         Select the PST where you want to store the archived messages in the 'Archive file' box.

Tip: It would be better if you choose a new PST file instead of an existing one so you do not face the size issue again.

The procedure will help you get out of an over-sized PST file. However, it is also important to know that some users face failure with the mentioned steps, therefore, it is better to choose a professional software program to split a large PST file. You can get the software over Internet.

 A presentation on "How to split large size PST" is given below. 

 

Split pst file for efficient Outlook working from Smith Grace