Data retention, archiving, offline pst searching et al. - your advice is appreciated

[Dan]

hi there,

my outlook storage has grown dramatically over the last couple of years.
every couple of months I try to get rid of old data, but I have not found a
good balance between reducing my "online" storage and having still access to
older messages in a good way. so I thought I'd ask you out there if you
eventually have some better ideas than I have.

I have:
Windows XP, Exchange server, Outlook 2007, offline folders in .ost file (max
200MB limit from Exchaneg server), ca. 90 (!) .pst files in sizes between
10MB up to 660MB, total 9GB of messages. currently all opened in Office 2007
because I need access to older fiels now and then. searching via Windows
Search 4.0 and X1 (because that one is faster than Windows Search, but
Windows Search integrates better into Outlook 2007).

I have a lot of performance problems. lately also file locking issues (I
assume). So I would like to reduce the 9GB of PST files dramatically, but I
still would like to have searchable access to that archived data.

I could use the autoarchiving function in Outlook. But that would archive
into other PST files that need to be open by Outlook at the same time. and I
would have to set the archive destination file *per* PST file I have open (I
would like to keep my current PST strategy which is one PST per customer).
that is quite a task and I would factually double my PST fiels from 90 to
180, at least short term during the archival process. perhaps there is a
tool I could use for that?

there is also that question of searchable offline PST files. Is there a tool
that supports this?
I know that X1 allows searching offline .pst files. I could use that, but
creating those autoarchive settings first might be a pain.

any type of advise is really appreciated.

thanks

dan

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

1. I would only open the pst files as I needed then, then close.

2. There are a number of suitable archive methods - from a PDF package
(requires Acrobat) to HTML/text files. See
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/housekeeping.asp for archive utilities. The
advantage of saving/archiving to universal formats is that you can access
the data from any computer, no outlook needed. The drawbacks are no
internet message header (rarely needed anyway) and you can't easily reply to
a message in the archive (can't quote, need to copy and paste- the address
is clickable). You'll have the original messages in the pst's you can
reference, if either is important.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
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newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[Dan]

Now, this is a nifty program.I need to check with them if i could get a
single professional license (I would even pay for).

The freeware version is quite good already. But I miss the offline pst
backup and the scheduling (both only available with the server version and
10 users...)

restore (export) to outlook still needs to be tested. I wonder if it woulf
recreate a set of pst files as in teh original.. hmm.. direct pst archiving
would be nice..

well.. this helped me a great deal!

thanks a lot Christian.

Dan¨


Almost all I was looking for. Tried it and it works like a charm.

Dan, you wrote on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:47:41 +0100:

hi there,

my outlook storage has grown dramatically over the last couple of years.
every couple of months I try to get rid of old data, but I have not found
a
good balance between reducing my "online" storage and having still access
to
older messages in a good way. so I thought I'd ask you out there if you
eventually have some better ideas than I have.

I have:
Windows XP, Exchange server, Outlook 2007, offline folders in .ost file
(max
200MB limit from Exchaneg server), ca. 90 (!) .pst files in sizes between
10MB up to 660MB, total 9GB of messages. currently all opened in Office
2007
because I need access to older fiels now and then. searching via Windows
Search 4.0 and X1 (because that one is faster than Windows Search, but
Windows Search integrates better into Outlook 2007).

I have a lot of performance problems. lately also file locking issues (I
assume). So I would like to reduce the 9GB of PST files dramatically, but
I
still would like to have searchable access to that archived data.

I could use the autoarchiving function in Outlook. But that would archive
into other PST files that need to be open by Outlook at the same time.
and I
would have to set the archive destination file *per* PST file I have open
(I
would like to keep my current PST strategy which is one PST per
customer).
that is quite a task and I would factually double my PST fiels from 90 to
180, at least short term during the archival process. perhaps there is a
tool I could use for that?

there is also that question of searchable offline PST files. Is there a
tool
that supports this?
I know that X1 allows searching offline .pst files. I could use that, but
creating those autoarchive settings first might be a pain.

See if [1] comes into question.

[1] http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx

--
Best Regards
Christian Goeller

MVP - MS Outlook
http://www.outlookfaq.net

 

[Dan]

thanks diane,

one thing I try to solve is that I am still able to search in those offline
pst files.
I might give X1 a try, as I am using it for ages and it allows offline PST
file searching.

on the other hand, I need to find a good and simple way to configure the
archiving of many folders and then actually do the archiving. I want
archives to go into equivalent pst files (i.e. from CustomerA.pst to
CustomerA-archived.pst) so that I keep messages of say the last 6 months in
the first file, while I connect to the second file only during archiving.


it seem to me that I need to go to each single pst file and there into the
properties of each folder to change the archive settings.
then, for archiving itself, I need to open the destination pst file, do the
archive and then close the destination file again.
how to automate this is still a mystery to me.


I wonder if that anyway makes sense. at the end I'd like to have a leaner,
faster, less error prone Outlook 2007.

dan

1. I would only open the pst files as I needed then, then close.

2. There are a number of suitable archive methods - from a PDF package
(requires Acrobat) to HTML/text files. See
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/housekeeping.asp for archive utilities.
The advantage of saving/archiving to universal formats is that you can
access the data from any computer, no outlook needed. The drawbacks are
no internet message header (rarely needed anyway) and you can't easily
reply to a message in the archive (can't quote, need to copy and paste-
the address is clickable). You'll have the original messages in the pst's
you can reference, if either is important.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

hi there,

my outlook storage has grown dramatically over the last couple of years.
every couple of months I try to get rid of old data, but I have not found
a good balance between reducing my "online" storage and having still
access to older messages in a good way. so I thought I'd ask you out
there if you eventually have some better ideas than I have.

I have:
Windows XP, Exchange server, Outlook 2007, offline folders in .ost file
(max 200MB limit from Exchaneg server), ca. 90 (!) .pst files in sizes
between 10MB up to 660MB, total 9GB of messages. currently all opened in
Office 2007 because I need access to older fiels now and then. searching
via Windows Search 4.0 and X1 (because that one is faster than Windows
Search, but Windows Search integrates better into Outlook 2007).

I have a lot of performance problems. lately also file locking issues (I
assume). So I would like to reduce the 9GB of PST files dramatically, but
I still would like to have searchable access to that archived data.

I could use the autoarchiving function in Outlook. But that would archive
into other PST files that need to be open by Outlook at the same time.
and I would have to set the archive destination file *per* PST file I
have open (I would like to keep my current PST strategy which is one PST
per customer). that is quite a task and I would factually double my PST
fiels from 90 to 180, at least short term during the archival process.
perhaps there is a tool I could use for that?

there is also that question of searchable offline PST files. Is there a
tool that supports this?
I know that X1 allows searching offline .pst files. I could use that, but
creating those autoarchive settings first might be a pain.

any type of advise is really appreciated.

thanks

dan

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

on the other hand, I need to find a good and simple way to configure the

archiving of many folders and then actually do the archiving. I want
archives to go into equivalent pst files (i.e. from CustomerA.pst to
CustomerA-archived.pst) so that I keep messages of say the last 6 months
in the first file, while I connect to the second file only during
archiving.

Not possible using autoarchive. You'd need to move the items to the folder
yourself.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

thanks diane,

one thing I try to solve is that I am still able to search in those
offline pst files.
I might give X1 a try, as I am using it for ages and it allows offline PST
file searching.

on the other hand, I need to find a good and simple way to configure the
archiving of many folders and then actually do the archiving. I want
archives to go into equivalent pst files (i.e. from CustomerA.pst to
CustomerA-archived.pst) so that I keep messages of say the last 6 months
in the first file, while I connect to the second file only during
archiving.


it seem to me that I need to go to each single pst file and there into the
properties of each folder to change the archive settings.
then, for archiving itself, I need to open the destination pst file, do
the archive and then close the destination file again.
how to automate this is still a mystery to me.


I wonder if that anyway makes sense. at the end I'd like to have a leaner,
faster, less error prone Outlook 2007.

dan

1. I would only open the pst files as I needed then, then close.

2. There are a number of suitable archive methods - from a PDF package
(requires Acrobat) to HTML/text files. See
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/housekeeping.asp for archive utilities.
The advantage of saving/archiving to universal formats is that you can
access the data from any computer, no outlook needed. The drawbacks are
no internet message header (rarely needed anyway) and you can't easily
reply to a message in the archive (can't quote, need to copy and paste-
the address is clickable). You'll have the original messages in the pst's
you can reference, if either is important.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

hi there,

my outlook storage has grown dramatically over the last couple of years.
every couple of months I try to get rid of old data, but I have not
found a good balance between reducing my "online" storage and having
still access to older messages in a good way. so I thought I'd ask you
out there if you eventually have some better ideas than I have.

I have:
Windows XP, Exchange server, Outlook 2007, offline folders in .ost file
(max 200MB limit from Exchaneg server), ca. 90 (!) .pst files in sizes
between 10MB up to 660MB, total 9GB of messages. currently all opened in
Office 2007 because I need access to older fiels now and then. searching
via Windows Search 4.0 and X1 (because that one is faster than Windows
Search, but Windows Search integrates better into Outlook 2007).

I have a lot of performance problems. lately also file locking issues (I
assume). So I would like to reduce the 9GB of PST files dramatically,
but I still would like to have searchable access to that archived data.

I could use the autoarchiving function in Outlook. But that would
archive into other PST files that need to be open by Outlook at the same
time. and I would have to set the archive destination file *per* PST
file I have open (I would like to keep my current PST strategy which is
one PST per customer). that is quite a task and I would factually double
my PST fiels from 90 to 180, at least short term during the archival
process. perhaps there is a tool I could use for that?

there is also that question of searchable offline PST files. Is there a
tool that supports this?
I know that X1 allows searching offline .pst files. I could use that,
but creating those autoarchive settings first might be a pain.

any type of advise is really appreciated.

thanks

dan