How large can a outlook pst file be in 2000 or 2003?

[jose]

Hello everyone , were using outlook 2000 and were told that we will have problems
if our pst file gets close to 2 gigs ??

Is this true ? What about Outlook 2003 ? Is it improved in this regard ?

Thank you for your help.

Regards,
Jose

 

[JackBurton]

Yes, 2GB is the red line for psts in <Outlook 2000. In Outlook 2003 that limitation is removed (theoretic pst file limitation of 33TB). However, in order to use Outlook 2003's format, you need to move all mail to a newly created Outlook 2003 pst file. You simply can't import that 2000 pst file into 2003. If you do, you'll still have that 2000 limitation (2GB).

 

[jose]

Thanks alot..

Regards,
Jose

 

[Pandamonium]

Hmm... how would you move all that mail into a 2003 PST file vs importing it?

 

[phonemonkey]

Originally posted by: Pandamonium
Hmm... how would you move all that mail into a 2003 PST file vs importing it?

Copy the PST file. I've had to do that before when I've had to reinstall and didn't have any way to import the file (but doing it from 2003 to a 2003 folder).

 

[skace]

You really, REALLY don't want to be using PST files at that size 🙁. It is a seriously bad idea to use email for file storage.

 

[zodder]

Originally posted by: skace
You really, REALLY don't want to be using PST files at that size 🙁. It is a seriously bad idea to use email for file storage.

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores. 🙂

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: zodder

Originally posted by: skace
You really, REALLY don't want to be using PST files at that size 🙁. It is a seriously bad idea to use email for file storage.

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores. 🙂

It's even better to break it up into multiple psts. 😉

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: zodder

Originally posted by: skace
You really, REALLY don't want to be using PST files at that size 🙁. It is a seriously bad idea to use email for file storage.

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores. 🙂

Large PST file isn't on your server? Even worse 🙁

 

[jayanand]

Originally posted by: phonemonkey

Originally posted by: Pandamonium
Hmm... how would you move all that mail into a 2003 PST file vs importing it?

Copy the PST file. I've had to do that before when I've had to reinstall and didn't have any way to import the file (but doing it from 2003 to a 2003 folder).

I found this thread while searching on the identical issue. I'm pretty IT savvy but I'm not sure I understand the advice being given.

I have about a hundred customer Folders in Outlook 2000 on a W98 machine, all under the one common Personal Folders folder. There are tons of attachments, too. File size of the .pst is just under a gig at present.

My main question pertains to HOW to move this all across.

It first seemed to me that to Export the Personal Folders folder with subfolders from Outlook 2000 to a .pst file and then Import that into Outlook 2003 was the logical approach... but then I found this thread and it seems you're saying not to do that and instead to "copy" the .pst file and then, I suppose, import that copy into 2003. (I don't suppose you're suggesting to copy the .pst file from Outlook 2000 and then just try to "open" it with Outlook 2003.)

If I understand that correctly, I'm unclear as to why a "copy" of the file would behave or be treated any differently than the original file.

And am I right in understanding that you're saying that exporting from 2000 to a .pst is not going to help?

Thanks!

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: jayanand

Originally posted by: phonemonkey

Originally posted by: Pandamonium
Hmm... how would you move all that mail into a 2003 PST file vs importing it?

Copy the PST file. I've had to do that before when I've had to reinstall and didn't have any way to import the file (but doing it from 2003 to a 2003 folder).

I found this thread while searching on the identical issue. I'm pretty IT savvy but I'm not sure I understand the advice being given.

I have about a hundred customer Folders in Outlook 2000 on a W98 machine, all under the one common Personal Folders folder. There are tons of attachments, too. File size of the .pst is just under a gig at present.

My main question pertains to HOW to move this all across.

It first seemed to me that to Export the Personal Folders folder with subfolders from Outlook 2000 to a .pst file and then Import that into Outlook 2003 was the logical approach... but then I found this thread and it seems you're saying not to do that and instead to "copy" the .pst file and then, I suppose, import that copy into 2003. (I don't suppose you're suggesting to copy the .pst file from Outlook 2000 and then just try to "open" it with Outlook 2003.)

If I understand that correctly, I'm unclear as to why a "copy" of the file would behave or be treated any differently than the original file.

And am I right in understanding that you're saying that exporting from 2000 to a .pst is not going to help?

Thanks!

Ok, this is what you are going to do. I'll take this from the perspective that you are upgrading Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003 on the same machine. First locate the *.pst file the user has open in Outlook 2000. Now that you know where the pst file is, uninstall Office 2000. Now, install Office 2003 and open the Outlook 2000 pst file in Outlook 2003. This will show up in Outlook 2003 but it will still be using the Outlook 2000 format and will still have the file size limitation. To create a new pst file in Outlook 2003, go to File>New>Outlook Data File... As you'll see here, it gives you two formats to choose from Office Outlook Personal Folder File (this is your Outlook 2003 format) and Outlook 97-2002Personal Folder File (this is the older format). You want to choose the Outlook 2003 format when creating your new Personal Folder. Once the new Personal Folder is created, you are going to physically move/copy the mail from the old Personal Folder to the new Personal Folder.

 

[Nothinman]

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores.

What do you get paid to do, if not to maintain your user's data?

 

[jayanand]

Okay, now this is starting to make sense.

PLEASE HANG IN THERE WITH ME AS I ATTEMPT TO GET MY DUCKS FULLY IN A ROW BEFORE TAKING THE PLUNGE. I HAVE A BUSINESS WITH A GREAT DEAL AT STAKE.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!

Actually, I'm migrating from an old W98 machine running Outlook 2000 to a new XP machine running Outlook 2003. So, I can start by copying the old .pst file over to the new machine.

I found the Outlook.pst file that Outlook 2003 is using on the XP machine. It's in:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst

(I already have a few email messages in there I'd like to ultimately incorporate into my final folder structure, but we can deal with that last and if needed I can forfeit them, but I'd rather keep them if I can.)

So, I suppose step one is to rename the existing Outlook.pst file that's on the XP machine. Then copy the old .pst file over from the W98 machine to the XP machine.

Then open Outlook 2003 and expect it to show me all my old email folders and messages.

Then do File > New > Outlook Data File > Office Outlook... and create a new (second) Personal Folders folder ----- uh, do I name it something else since there will already be one with that name at that level, or just name it the same thing?

Then, copy (or move?) everything over from the old Personal Folder's folder to that new one.

Then delete my old one (and rename the new one to the generic if I did have to name it something else until this step).

I see that I can go into Outlook 2003 and click File > Open > Outlook Data File and it takes me to the same folder the .pst is in and is ready to list for me any other .pst files that may be there. I also see that if I go to the current 2003 Personal Folders folder and right-click on it, the "Rename" command is grayed out (unavailable). So, maybe what I need to do is the following:

1. Move my existing 2003 "Inbox" contents (it's just ten recently received messages) into some other uniquely named subfolder I'll create under Personal Folders for the time being, in a way that won't interfere with anything else. I'll make it a "Mail" type folder, of course. (Later, when I'm all done, I'll move them into my final Inbox with the rest.)

2. Rename the old .pst file to something like OutlookOld.pst. Then copy it into the XP folder for .pst files.

3. Open 2003 and select File > Open > Outlook Data File > OutlookOld.pst to open that.

Question: Do I want to first create a new custom folder under or parallel with the current Personal Folders folder in 2003 so there's a place to open the Old into, and if so should I name it Personal Folders or something else -- or will it not ask and instead automatically give it its own separate folder structure? What will happen with the Personal Folders structure that's there in 2003 now when I open OutlookOld.pst? Will it be replaced, or untouched?

You're not saying to then copy all OutlookOld.pst folders into the currently existing Personal Folders structure, but rather to create a File > New > Outlook Data File for that. Maybe my having introduced the fact that I'm moving an old .pst file onto the new XP machine which has Outlook 2003 changes that. I'll await your comments from here before I ask further, so my questions are more refined. Though I believe your answers will probably be pretty much all I need.

THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

Jay

 

[jayanand]

Well, got it all done and all figured out. For the benefit of others, here's the proven plan.

The following worked like a charm for moving the contents of an Outlook 2000 installation over from one computer (in my case a W98 machine) to Outlook 2003 (on an XP machine). The reason it's necessary to do it this way is to get all contents of the older-format .pst file into the newer-format .pst file used by Outlook 2003.

The first step was to rename the old .pst file, move it over to the XP machine in the same folder as the XP machine's .pst file, open Outlook 2003 on the XP machine and do File - Open - Outlook Data File keeping track of which new Personal Folders folder that opened, then, in Outlook 2003, manually move or copy each folder (in the case of custom created folders) or each folder's contents (in the case of the main default folders) from the old version's Personal Folders folder to the main Personal Folders folder that already existed in Outlook 2003. Then, I right-clicked on the old version's Personal Folders folder and Deleted it. Then I deleted the old version?s .pst file.

The Accounts and Rules were done separately.

For the accounts, I had to first go to the W98 computer's Outlook 2000 and do Tools - Accounts - Mail and then Export each account to file one by one. Then, on the new XP machine, open Outlook Express and Import them, and then open Outlook 2003 and Import them from Outlook Express. This resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made manually in each account after I was done: I have some accounts set for "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" and in Outlook 2000 I had had them all set to "Log on using" with the appropriate User Name and Password for each one, but after Import they all reverted to "Use same settings as my incoming mail server." I had to reset them to "Log on using" and re-enter the passwords (it remembered the account names).

The Rules were done by going into Outlook 2000 on the W98 machine, going into the Rules, choosing Options and Export. Then I went to Outlook 2003, Rules, Options, and Import. This also resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made: all rules that said to move the message to a "specified folder" had lost the name of the folder (even though it did exist in both versions of Outlook) and instead reverted back to the prompt that says "specified folder." So, I had to redirect each of those to the appropriate folder.

That took care of the Outlook migration entirely.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores.

What do you get paid to do, if not to maintain your user's data?

No I see his point, we have the same problem. Our employees will receive a lot of attachments from clients, and just leave them in their email. We kept running out of space on our exchange server, and it was expensive (and incurred downtime/overtime) to keep upgrading the server. We saw that there were about 20 people with mailboxes over 1 gig - that doesn't just cause an issue with space, but also unnecessary network traffic and cpu time especially when syncing the ost.

We decided to implement a 350mb limit with a 300mb warning. Our policy is that if there are any important permanent files that belong to the firm, they need to be in the client folder on the server available to all employees that work on that client - not on your laptop. If it's not something everyone needs to see, then they are keeping the email only for their convenience - and have learned to move it into their PST as an archive. With the limitation they also have to learn to actually clean out their Deleted Items and Sent Items.

 

[jayanand]

I run a one-man company and am always struggling to keep up with essential tasks. I'm working on large funding and have large growth plans, but for now it's very tight. Taking the time to move emails around once they come in or are sent is a luxury I rarely if ever can make time for. I like to keep more rather than less so I have a trail of communications on everything from securities sales to working with scientists to tech support matters. Right now my Outlook 2003 .pst file is approaching a gig. Is this really a problem other than a bit of a lag time on occasion and the need to keep backups so I don't risk losing a lot of important stuff in one .pst file?

I haven't tried archiving yet. Are there any issues to be aware of with archiving that are not the kind of thing that would be very obvious to the beginner (reasonably IT-savvy but no experience archiving email in Outlook) who is approaching it for the first time?

Thanks!

 

[deltadart]

I'd like to stretch out this thread for a few more questions ...

I'm running XPSP2, OL2K3 SP1 exchange client w/Offline enabled. How do I set up archiving for the ost files? Everything I see is for pst files. Of course the main objective is to clean up the exchange box. The most direct, user friendly method would be the best.

Thanks.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Nothinman

As an IT Director, it's better to have a large PST file than it is to leave that crap on my server and bloat my stores.

What do you get paid to do, if not to maintain your user's data?

No I see his point, we have the same problem. Our employees will receive a lot of attachments from clients, and just leave them in their email. We kept running out of space on our exchange server, and it was expensive (and incurred downtime/overtime) to keep upgrading the server. We saw that there were about 20 people with mailboxes over 1 gig - that doesn't just cause an issue with space, but also unnecessary network traffic and cpu time especially when syncing the ost.

We decided to implement a 350mb limit with a 300mb warning. Our policy is that if there are any important permanent files that belong to the firm, they need to be in the client folder on the server available to all employees that work on that client - not on your laptop. If it's not something everyone needs to see, then they are keeping the email only for their convenience - and have learned to move it into their PST as an archive. With the limitation they also have to learn to actually clean out their Deleted Items and Sent Items.

And that's how it should be done IMO.

 

[deltadart]

Thank your for your reply ... I would appreciate any ideas on how to make the cleanup/archiving of Exchange (using Offline Files) mailboxes happen easily.

Is there a way to make an archive (function) happen on either the ost file or the Exchange mailbox that can be defined and operated by the users? Ideally I'd like to run Archive on the ost file then have the Exchange mailbox sync to the new, smaller size. The user would need access to the "cleaned off" email from (I would assume) an archival (type) of pst file.

So far it looks like the user might have to manually create a pst file for storage then manually drag/drop email that's older than xxxx date. Of course after the pst is created then Archive will work fine ... on the pst file.

We are in the process of moving all our POP3 users "back home" to Exchange then VPN to get email. This archiving issue will raise it's ugly head not long after 40 or so users dump their pst files back on the server. The logic is - the email belongs to the company and if the users don't backup their email it could have negative effects on company. I guess the choice is to cover or fire their butts.

We will be using both OL2K3 and OL2K.

Thanks in advance.