This morning I started archiving my inbox and 6 hours later it is still
going, with no sign of letting up. What's going on? It doesn't seem to be
doing anything, but in the lower right corner I see the "Archving Inbox to
C:\..." and the graphical icon showing that something is "happening". Why
is it taking so long. What should I do? Thanks for your help!

Hard to say at this level of detail.
How much is being archived?
How large is your original pst-file and the one you archiving to?
Do you see the archive file growing in size in Explorer?

--
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

-----

"wylie.sawyer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E22F648A-9F8F-44B9-B613-(E-Mail Removed)...
> This morning I started archiving my inbox and 6 hours later it is still
> going, with no sign of letting up. What's going on? It doesn't seem to
> be
> doing anything, but in the lower right corner I see the "Archving Inbox to
> C:\..." and the graphical icon showing that something is "happening".
> Why
> is it taking so long. What should I do? Thanks for your help!

Looks like the archive file started at 647 MB and is now at 1.1 GB. The
original pst file was 1.28 GB. So it seems to be making progress. Thanks
for your help.

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

> Hard to say at this level of detail.
> How much is being archived?
> How large is your original pst-file and the one you archiving to?
> Do you see the archive file growing in size in Explorer?
>
> --
> 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
>
> -----
>
> "wylie.sawyer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:E22F648A-9F8F-44B9-B613-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > This morning I started archiving my inbox and 6 hours later it is still
> > going, with no sign of letting up. What's going on? It doesn't seem to
> > be
> > doing anything, but in the lower right corner I see the "Archving Inbox to
> > C:\..." and the graphical icon showing that something is "happening".
> > Why
> > is it taking so long. What should I do? Thanks for your help!
>
>

"wylie.sawyer" wrote in message
news:E22F648A-9F8F-44B9-B613-(E-Mail Removed)...
> This morning I started archiving my inbox and 6 hours later it is
> still
> going, with no sign of letting up. What's going on? It doesn't
> seem to be
> doing anything, but in the lower right corner I see the "Archving
> Inbox to
> C:\..." and the graphical icon showing that something is
> "happening". Why
> is it taking so long. What should I do? Thanks for your help!


A thought. Try disabling your anti-virus program. Each time Outlook
updates the .pst file, your anti-virus program might then go recheck
the file. So Outlook and the anti-virus program are thrashing on the
same file.

I didn't get around to trying to disable my anti virus software, but in any
case, the archiving eventually completed. However, it doesn't look like my
pst was reduced significantly, even though the archive file grew from 647 MB
to 1.33 GB. The original pst file went from 1.28 GB to like 1.23 GB. Again,
I'm confused. Does anyone have an explanation for what's going on?

Anyway, this may be for a separate thread, but I'll mention it here. This
morning I impulsively began to "compact" my pst file and its been going for
an hour or so. Its now down to 1.19 GB. At this rate its going to take many
more hours. I sorta need to be able to use my computer today. Should I
"cancel" and do it tonight when I don't need my computer? Is compacting a
good thing to do in general or will I open a can of worms by attempting it?

Thanks!

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> "wylie.sawyer" wrote in message
> news:E22F648A-9F8F-44B9-B613-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > This morning I started archiving my inbox and 6 hours later it is
> > still
> > going, with no sign of letting up. What's going on? It doesn't
> > seem to be
> > doing anything, but in the lower right corner I see the "Archving
> > Inbox to
> > C:\..." and the graphical icon showing that something is
> > "happening". Why
> > is it taking so long. What should I do? Thanks for your help!
>
>
> A thought. Try disabling your anti-virus program. Each time Outlook
> updates the .pst file, your anti-virus program might then go recheck
> the file. So Outlook and the anti-virus program are thrashing on the
> same file.
>
>

wylie.sawyer <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I didn't get around to trying to disable my anti virus software, but
> in any case, the archiving eventually completed. However, it doesn't
> look like my pst was reduced significantly, even though the archive
> file grew from 647 MB to 1.33 GB. The original pst file went from
> 1.28 GB to like 1.23 GB. Again, I'm confused. Does anyone have an
> explanation for what's going on?

Did you comact the PST after archiving the data? PSTs don't get smaller
after deleting things as a matter of efficiency. It's an "expensive"
operation for an application to request file system space. So, Outlook
retains the deleted space, anticipating that you'll get more messages soon
and will need that space again. Rather than requesting space from the file
system, Outlook simply reuses space formerly occupied by items you've
deleted.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

"wylie.sawyer" wrote in message
news:32D07CBA-2EA5-4BB3-A984-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I didn't get around to trying to disable my anti virus software, but
>in any
> case, the archiving eventually completed. However, it doesn't look
> like my
> pst was reduced significantly, even though the archive file grew
> from 647 MB
> to 1.33 GB. The original pst file went from 1.28 GB to like 1.23
> GB. Again,
> I'm confused. Does anyone have an explanation for what's going on?


Archiving copies the eligible items into the archive file and then
deletes them from the original message store. Deletion NEVER reduces
the size of the .pst file. Items that get deletes are merely changed
to "deleted" status in the database (.pst file) but they still exist
and why utilities, like DBxtract, can be used to recover those
delete-marked items. You need to compact your message store to
physically purged those delete-marked items from the database. Then
the files gets physically reduced in size. Archive then compact.

Brian Tillman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Did you comact the PST after archiving the data?

That's "compact".
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

"wylie.sawyer" wrote in message
news:32D07CBA-2EA5-4BB3-A984-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I impulsively began to "compact" my pst file and its been going for
> an hour or so. Its now down to 1.19 GB. At this rate its going to
> take many
> more hours.

Um, your archive .pst file isn't on some networked host, is it?

I archived, and then I compacted. Its still compacting, now down to 877 MB.
So I'm not really sure what compacting is doing to the file. I hope I will
have access to all my data that has been "archived" and "compacted". When I
say available I mean through a Google Desktop search I will be able to
retrieve old mail. Thank you for your help. I really appreciate this MSFT
community feature.

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> "wylie.sawyer" wrote in message
> news:32D07CBA-2EA5-4BB3-A984-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I impulsively began to "compact" my pst file and its been going for
> > an hour or so. Its now down to 1.19 GB. At this rate its going to
> > take many
> > more hours.
>
> Um, your archive .pst file isn't on some networked host, is it?
>
>