Breaking up Outlook files, but still want to search them.

[BudV]

I have a humongous Outlook .pst file and Carbonite won't back it up very often because of its size -- the last backup was on 1/29/12! I see no problem with breaking it up into several smaller data files, thereby relieving the strain for Carbonite. The trouble is, searching these various files now becomes cumbersome. I'm looking for ideas on how to combine these data files back into one piece (outside of Outlook, and telling Carbonite to not back it up) so that it can be searched easily.

 

[alow]

You're probably going to be out of luck. PST files are very particular about being accessed. I don't think there are any add-ons that allow the fuctionality that you want either. What you could do to see if it's just a bloat issue, is check the size of the PST in Windows Explorer and see how that compares to the folder size in Outlook (Right click | Properties | Folder Size). If the size in Windows is much larger than the size in outlook, you can compact the PST from within Outlook to reduce the size of the PST.

Another thing to look at is if your backups are running while Outlook is open. PST files won't allow themselves to even be copied while they are open in Outlook, so that's another possible culprit.

 

[BudV]

Out of luck? No way! I wish I had this much luck with the big sweepstakes! Okay, let me explain.

I have a dual-boot Mac. I was on the Mac side when I saw your reply. I thank you for telling me about Outlook files not wanting to be copied when they're open, since in this situation, Outlook is open practically 100% of the time. So I'll just make sure that my daughter (this is all about her PC) closes it more often to give Carbonite a chance to work. One problem area resolved, but not the big one.

On Rendezvous (Mac's mail handler very similar to Outlook) I found File>Export, which would apparently generate a searchable file for selected (or all) mail items. Okay for the Mac, now let's switch to the Windows side. It also has some exporting facility, but very limited, one folder at a time, CSV files (one of the choices). Not what I need. But then ...

I noticed a beautiful gold-colored box in the navigation pane that said "All Mail Items". I selected that and went to the search in the upper-right screen and got the perfect solution with no effort. God bless the curiosity and persistence of an old programmer!

Now, as long as I don't have problems creating smaller data files and distributing existing mail among them, I should have it taken care of. Wish me luck.

 

[alow]

*Face palm* I should have known better. I'm still thinking of the days of advanced find. I forgot that instant search allows you to search across all platforms. Good luck sir!