-> [o2007]: Compact or Export+Import ? Which is best? <-

[Steve JORDI]

Hi,
Using Outlook 2007, my PST file is about 180 Mb.

If I compact it it turns into something like 175 Mb.
A 5 Mb gain! Seems ridiculous.

Now if I export the entire thing out to a new PST file,
this latter is about only 130 Mb. A 50 Mb gain!

If I open this file as my new main Outlook store, will I lose
anything? Or if I clear everything in my current store and
reimport that exported file, fille I get the same copy as my
original file, just without empty records, compacted to its
best?

Thanks for any clue.

Sincerely,
Steve JORDI

(Remove the K_I_L_LSPAM from my email address)

 

[Gordon]

Hi,
Using Outlook 2007, my PST file is about 180 Mb.

If I compact it it turns into something like 175 Mb.
A 5 Mb gain! Seems ridiculous.

Now if I export the entire thing out to a new PST file,
this latter is about only 130 Mb. A 50 Mb gain!

If I open this file as my new main Outlook store, will I lose
anything? Or if I clear everything in my current store and
reimport that exported file, fille I get the same copy as my
original file, just without empty records, compacted to its
best?

Thanks for any clue.

Considering that Outlook 2007 can have pst files in the order of TWENTY
GIGABYTES I don't see what you are worried about a few Megabytes for.
And exporting and importing pst files is one of the quickest ways to corrupt
your data...

 

[Brian Tillman]

Using Outlook 2007, my PST file is about 180 Mb.

If I compact it it turns into something like 175 Mb.
A 5 Mb gain! Seems ridiculous.

Now if I export the entire thing out to a new PST file,
this latter is about only 130 Mb. A 50 Mb gain!

Big deal. When disk space is so cheap these days (500 GB disks for circa US
$100), why worry about a measly 50 MB? That's about $10 of disk space.

That said, you WANT your PST to contain empty, reusable space. You're
trading a little disk space for enhanced performance. By having reusable
space in the PST, Outlook doesn't have to "ask" the file sysyem for
additional allocation. Allocating additional disk space is an "expensive"
operation when compared to simply reallocating pointers inside the PST.

If I open this file as my new main Outlook store, will I lose
anything? Or if I clear everything in my current store and
reimport that exported file, fille I get the same copy as my
original file, just without empty records, compacted to its
best?

Exporting and importing ALWAYS lose data and you could corrupt your mail
profile. The correct use of importing and exporting is only when you're
trying to transfer data between Outlook and another application, not between
Outlook and Outlook.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Big deal. When disk space is so cheap these days (500 GB disks for
circa US $100), why worry about a measly 50 MB? That's about $10 of
disk space.

Did I say $10? I meant 1¢

 

[Steve JORDI]

Big deal. When disk space is so cheap these days (500 GB disks for circa US

$100), why worry about a measly 50 MB? That's about $10 of disk space.

Well it's not about disk space. It's about loading time.
Outlook 2007 is killing me when opening. It's just so slooooow.
And I have applied all tips/tricks I found on the web, including
disabling most add-ins.

But if it's risky to export/import, then I will stay with my current
copy.


Sincerely,
Steve JORDI

(Remove the K_I_L_LSPAM from my email address)

 

[Gordon]

Well it's not about disk space. It's about loading time.
Outlook 2007 is killing me when opening. It's just so slooooow.

Have you applied the Outlook "large pst file" patch?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FD-1E09-49B6-9003-C4C47539DF66&displaylang=en

 

[Steve JORDI]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FD-1E09-49B6-9003-C4C47539DF66&displaylang=en

Yes but this patch tells me "The expected version of the product was
not found on the system".

It means either that Outlook 2007 is already patched, or that it
checks whether MS Office 2007 is installed (It is not, I don't have MS
Office)...


Sincerely,
Steve JORDI

(Remove the K_I_L_LSPAM from my email address)

 

[Brian Tillman]

Well it's not about disk space. It's about loading time.
Outlook 2007 is killing me when opening. It's just so slooooow.

That shouldn't be the result of the PST size. 180 MB is small. See if
something here helps:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/slow.htm