Hello K.
I have a very similar question.
I have personal Outlook, no server, and wanted to know how I compress the
database from time to time?
My Reply, Forward, New, and New Contacts take at least 15+ seconds to load.
I have never archived because I was concerned about how I could read
archived messages if I wanted to scan through them. I frequently go back on
some subjects.
I was doing a search so I could tell you how large my Outlook.pst file was
and so far I have come up with one (in docs and settings\(me)) that is dated
10/23/2004, and is 142.5MB, and I had just used Outlook before writing this
reply so I don't know why the 2004 (my computer clock is ok).
The search is still running so If there is a major difference in size, I'll
let you know.