Compact folder function doesn't appear to work

[JBower]

On two different machines, one with XP and OL 2002 and the other W2K with OL
2000. When I perform the compact function it flashes the little message
Compacting... for about 2 seconds. When I check the file size it does not
change, even though I've deleted or archived at least 1-2 Mb worth of
messages (in several cases, quite a bit more.

I typically use shift-delete, so it is not as if the stuff is sitting in my
deleted items folder. I use F5 to refresh my view of the directory that it
is in, I see the file date/time update, but no change in the file size,
none. I even exit OL, still no change, I reboot, still no change. I've
checked, and I am looking at the correct outlook.pst file. Perhaps just as
curious, If I email myself a message with a decent sized attachment (~ 3/4
Mb) I don't see the file size change either.

I am concerned, I just ran into the 2 Gb file size limit (unknowingly)
yesterday and I am not far away from the upper limit, so I would like to be
able to figure out what is going on. I regularly get emails with CAD files
attached, that are rarely under 1Mb in size, so it won't be long before I
run into the upper limit.

Thanks in advance,

John

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Have you tried running ScanPST.EXE on the PST file before trying to compact
it?

 

[JB]

My ID on this message may appear different as I am checking from a different
computer that the orignal post.

I should have mentioned that too (scanpst). Yes I ran it, I ran the 2gb crop
program that is on the microsoft website. I ran ScanPst on the cropped pst
file. That (ScanPST) ran for quite sometime (~10-20 minutes.

What makes very little sense to me is the fact that the outlook.pst file
doesn't appear to change size, at least over the past 12 hours, despite
several additional emails that should have caused the file to increase.
Compact folder does not appear to have any effect on either machine, on any
..pst file.

Have you tried running ScanPST.EXE on the PST file before trying to compact

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Just to check, have you tried compacting multiple times? Some times you need
to do it 2-3 times to get results. Why? I'm not really sure.

My ID on this message may appear different as I am checking from a
different
computer that the orignal post.

I should have mentioned that too (scanpst). Yes I ran it, I ran the 2gb
crop
program that is on the microsoft website. I ran ScanPst on the cropped pst
file. That (ScanPST) ran for quite sometime (~10-20 minutes.

What makes very little sense to me is the fact that the outlook.pst file
doesn't appear to change size, at least over the past 12 hours, despite
several additional emails that should have caused the file to increase.
Compact folder does not appear to have any effect on either machine, on
any
.pst file.

\

 

[JB]

I have archived whole directories, removing several Mb of data, I click the
Compact folder button and the message window flashes no more than 1.5 - 2
seconds. I do it again and again. I exit out of file properties, then go
back in compact again multiple times, exit again. Exit OL, then start it
again, do more compacting. Exit OL again, restart my computer, repeat this
again. Nada, nothing, zip, zero, The file is the same size. I know, you're
thinking the idiot is looking at the wrong file, no, it changes right in
sync with the computer clock and any change to the file, the file time
updates. The file is in the correct directory, it is the correct name, I am
looking at the correct file.

This behavior is the same on my XP machine as it is on the Win2k machine.
The same for OL2002 as OL2000. The only commonality is that the original pst
(over 1.5 years ago) was taken from my desktop machine and put on my laptop.
It was used from there on out. Check a different email address.

It appears that, given the type of questions that are being asked, this
appears to be a unique problem that no one else is experiencing, therefore I
must be doing something incorrectly. I am certain that this is not the case,
I am fairly comfortable working through issues with software and solving
them before ever asking anyone for help. This behavior is almost certainly
and issue with the software. Let's start from there. I can not possibly
imagine the underlying structure that allows data to be added or removed
from the file without it apparently changing its size, unless it's only
creating a pointer to it. The behavior makes no sense.

 

[Iv Borissov]

I think (but I am not sure), that REAL compacting is performing when some
condition is completed - for example, 20 % of real PST size is wasted. If
you remove 2 MB old emails from 2GB, this is only below 0.1 %. The percent
can be different, I do not know about concrete algorithms, implemented from
Microsoft. Please note, that if REAL size of items inside PST is, for
example, 10 MB, the Real size of PST can be 11 MB. The growing of 10% is for
BUFFER - it is not necessary every time, when you save new item in PST, the
size to be increased - this Buffer is used for improving, increasing save
speed.

Also, be aware, that compacting process need minimum free disk size equal to
size of existing PST. The process create a new hidden PST, copy all existing
data to this new PST, and at end, rename PST files and delete old.

Again, it is my ratiocination.


--
Iv Borissov
IMI Support Team
http://www.imibo.com/imidev/

*everything that has a beginning has an end*

 

[JB]

At least that makes some sense....

I will have to do some tests.

Thanks,
John