Archives and pst-files are exactly the same thing. The term "Archive" is
actually only used separately when referring to the pst-file that has been
linked with the AutoArchive feature of Outlook. From a technical point of
view, it is just like any other pst-file.
That said, having multiple pst-files connected to Outlook does not equal
directly in slow performance. This will usually only happen when they have a
significant amount of pst-files which are very large >2GB, often get data
added/removed from it, are set to be indexed and are located on a
(relatively) slow hard disk. If they are happy with the performance, leave
it as is. If they are not, teach them how they can disconnect and reconnect
pst-files in Outlook and see if it makes a difference performance wise.
If you like to go for a more central approach, take a look at archiving
solutions for Exchange. Do not move the pst-files to a network location and
connect to them from there since that is not supported by Microsoft and
could lead to poor performance or even data loss.
--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers
-----
"Hillary" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:500EDFB7-AF43-4EA0-94A8-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> Need some advice on the proper way to store and archive emails through
> Outlook 2007. I have about 40 end users that keep every email that they
> ever
> received. I can't change what they do because they are consultants and
> they
> need this for record keeping.
>
> I noticed that they have many archive folders and some have a combo of PST
> and archives or just pst. I know that having many archive folders and pst
> folders will slow the performance of Outlook 2007 down.
>
> What is a better solution for people. Oh and they don't want to save it
> to
> the server and remove it from the display of Outlook - they want access to
> every email when they need it.
>
> Please and thanks