Outlook.pst has reached maximum size

[FivePoundBag]

Yesterday, I started getting a long message from Outlook (2007) when I
click on some folders. It reads:


Cannot display the folder. The file C:\Documents ... \outlook.pst has
reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file,
select some items that you no longer need, and then permanently delete
them using SHIFT+DELETE. You could also consider using the new Outlook
Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with Outlook 2003 that
provides greater capacity for storing items and folders.



What's this "new Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with
Outlook 2003"? I am running 2007. How can I determine if I am using
the new or old PST files?



I would prefer not to delete things. Can I archive them instead?

Is there a way to find out where the largest folders and/or the oldest
items are?

Also, is there a way to set the archive threshold for all folders? The
last time I went through this, I think I had to do each one
individually. I have a lot of folders.

 

[FivePoundBag]

Are email attachments stored in the PST file? If so, that could be a
lot for the reason for it getting too large. I get a lot of
attachments.

Is there a way that I can delete the attachments from saved email
messages in bulk -- especially from outside Outlook?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Attachments are stored in the pst file. Yes, you can archive them or better
yet, upgrade to the new outlook 2007 file format. Instructions are at
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ansi-to-unicode.asp

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

 

[Guest]

Yesterday, I started getting a long message from Outlook (2007) when I
click on some folders. It reads:


Cannot display the folder. The file C:\Documents ... \outlook.pst has
reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file,
select some items that you no longer need, and then permanently delete
them using SHIFT+DELETE. You could also consider using the new Outlook
Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with Outlook 2003 that
provides greater capacity for storing items and folders.



What's this "new Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with
Outlook 2003"? I am running 2007. How can I determine if I am using
the new or old PST files?



I would prefer not to delete things. Can I archive them instead?

Is there a way to find out where the largest folders and/or the oldest
items are?

Also, is there a way to set the archive threshold for all folders? The
last time I went through this, I think I had to do each one
individually. I have a lot of folders.

We are using an old version of Outlook, but still get a lot of email, but
have never reached this limit.
If you archive your mail in yearly archive folders, it becomes separate pst
files.
Also you should empty all your deleted items folders and compact the whole
pst folder, and you may find you regain a fair bit of space (give the
compaction plenty of time and don't try to interrupt it: Right click Outlook
Today/Properties/Advanced/Compact)

S

 

[Gordon]

and compact the whole pst folder,

Actually Outlook 2007 does compaction as it goes - you'll find that if you
manually compact (unless you have just deleted a large number of mails) it
doesn't actually do much at all.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

All versions of outlook compact the pst when there is idle time.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

 

[Gordon]

All versions of outlook compact the pst when there is idle time.

Oh thanks - I thought that was a new feature in 2007!

 

[FivePoundBag]

We are using an old version of Outlook, but still get a lot of email, but
have never reached this limit.
If you archive your mail in yearly archive folders, it becomes separate pst
files.

That's a good suggestion.

Is there some way to do that automatically or do I need to do
something manually every year?

 

[Guest]

That's a good suggestion.

Is there some way to do that automatically or do I need to do
something manually every year?

I haven't looked into doing it automatically (though folder properties does
give you various options for this) as it is only once a year and, as the
user keeps everything in her inbox, it is easy to just highlight several
months at a time and move them across to the new folder, where they are
still available, but in a different pst.

You just go File/New/Personal Folders File (pst)

For some reason it asks you for a name for the file twice (probably so you
can have a short name on view and a longer real one, but it's not really
relevant to me as I just name them Archive2009 etc anyway. Just *don't*
give it the same name as your existing Personal Folders file!) The new pst
then just appears at the top of the folder view and is ready to use; it even
has its own deleted items folder.

You can right click on it to get its properties sheet, where you can set
passwords if you like, and can see the folder size and compact it if you
have performed any operations like deleting duplicates: a new pst will not
have any waste space in it unless you do do something like deleting
duplicates *after* you have moved the mail (Best to do such tidying before
the move.) - and don't forget to delete them from the deleted folder before
compacting too. (The duplicates finding software I use also puts it's own
deleted folder in, which has to be deleted once checked too.)

Do remember to compact your main Personal Folders after making any moves and
emptying its Deleted Items folder.

Having separate pst files like this also makes backing up to external media
quicker, and, unless you are a real demon mailer should keep you below any
pst size limits.

(I was looking, as I composed this, for the option that lets me manage pst
files all together, but perhaps this is a different version on this old
laptop, as I can't find such an option, but it is not essential anyway.)

S

 

[Guest]

Oh thanks - I thought that was a new feature in 2007!

Yes that is what I used to tell everyone, until I discovered the compact
button, and gained a huge amount of space.
Try it. Particularly if you are keeping everything in the inbox.
Especially useful on archive folders after emptying their deleted items
folders and running duplicates finding software on the inbox.

Thinking about it, that 'when there is idle time' may be significant. If
one has a nearly full hard drive, and an indexing and av programme running,
and is on line most of the time, is there ever really any idle time? I
think, in our case at least, the answer must have been 'perhaps not', as
Personal Folders does take a *long* time to compact each time I do the
user's housekeeping for her!

S

 

[Stu Pidasso]

Yesterday, I started getting a long message from Outlook (2007) when I
click on some folders. It reads:

Cannot display the folder. The file C:\Documents ... \outlook.pst has
reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file,
select some items that you no longer need, and then permanently delete
them using SHIFT+DELETE. You could also consider using the new Outlook
Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with Outlook 2003 that
provides greater capacity for storing items and folders.

What's this "new Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with
Outlook 2003"? I am running 2007. How can I determine if I am using
the new or old PST files?

I would prefer not to delete things. Can I archive them instead?

Is there a way to find out where the largest folders and/or the oldest
items are?

Also, is there a way to set the archive threshold for all folders? The
last time I went through this, I think I had to do each one
individually. I have a lot of folders.

It sounds like that your original PST file may have been created in
Outlook 2000 and just carried over into the next versions...which had
a 2gig limit.. I would create a new PST file....just start copying
everything over into the new file. If you cannot open the file at
all....try running scanpst.exe on that specific file.

Just my two cents worth

 

[Guest]

Yesterday, I started getting a long message from Outlook (2007) when I
click on some folders. It reads:

Cannot display the folder. The file C:\Documents ... \outlook.pst has
reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file,
select some items that you no longer need, and then permanently delete
them using SHIFT+DELETE. You could also consider using the new Outlook
Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with Outlook 2003 that
provides greater capacity for storing items and folders.

What's this "new Outlook Personal Folders file (.pst) introduced with
Outlook 2003"? I am running 2007. How can I determine if I am using
the new or old PST files?

I would prefer not to delete things. Can I archive them instead?

Is there a way to find out where the largest folders and/or the oldest
items are?

Also, is there a way to set the archive threshold for all folders? The
last time I went through this, I think I had to do each one
individually. I have a lot of folders.

It sounds like that your original PST file may have been created in
Outlook 2000 and just carried over into the next versions...which had
a 2gig limit.. I would create a new PST file....just start copying
everything over into the new file. If you cannot open the file at
all....try running scanpst.exe on that specific file.

Just my two cents worth


And if anyone is still reading this, a couple of free progs that are handy
for finding big files you may have forgotten about - such as indexes and old
versions of Java that get left behind even when you uninstall the parent
prog - are Wintidy, and Showman : you could do worse than googling for them.
The first is a technicolour marvel that displays files as coloured
rectangles proportionate to their size; the second acts on the pie chart
principle and gives you a right click from within My Computer - I use both.
There is also a duplicate file finder for Outlook which is very good, for
when you are shunting files about and want to route out extra copies that
may accumulate.

S

 

[annabrown8812]

You can try Third party tool to reduce PST file size. The softwrae creates NEW PST folder for each splitted item which you can save at secure location.