Merging multiple personal data files possible ?

[Martin Caldwell]

When I viewed a friends outlook data file location list (in Outlook XP/2002 (Not: Outlook Express))
I was rather surprised:

There were up to 10 different *.pst files listed.

We decided to remove some of them resp. to merge them into one (or at most two of them).
I am not sure about the dependencies of these multiple *.pst files.

If there are more than one *.pst file in this list: Does that means that e.g. an eMail "xxxxxx"
is stored in only ONE of them or is a copy if this eMail stored in each of them?

Is there a way of merging all these *.pst files into one of them ?

Autoarchiving is enabled on this installation.

Martin

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Mail is only delivered automatically to one PST file. You can merge them
manually by opening each then drag/dropping data from that file into the one
you decided to use.

 

[Francine Otterson]

The current email delivery is setup to go to only one .pst file. However,
the other .pst files could of had email delivered to them at one time; may
be used for personal storage use and archiving sets up a .pst file as well.
This article may help.

http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200508/00001603001.html

Regards

 

[Brian Tillman]

When I viewed a friends outlook data file location list (in Outlook
XP/2002 (Not: Outlook Express)) I was rather surprised:

There were up to 10 different *.pst files listed.

In our environment, not everyone is using Outlook 2003 yet. For those
people who are not who have a requirement to keep a fairly comprehensive
history of their mail, multiple PSTs are not unusual because a single PST
can hold at most about 1.86 GB. Additionally, ANSI PSTs can begin to
exhibit performance issues at about 1.5 GB, so these people tend to keep
their PSTs at or below 1 GB. I know one guy who has 15 to 20 PSTs.

We decided to remove some of them resp. to merge them into one (or at
most two of them).
I am not sure about the dependencies of these multiple *.pst files.

Keep in mind that there is a size limit and that the merge won't approach
that limit or you could lose the data in the PST.

If there are more than one *.pst file in this list: Does that means
that e.g. an eMail "xxxxxx"
is stored in only ONE of them or is a copy if this eMail stored in
each of them?

While nothing prevents a person from having a message in more than one PST,
it's certainly not typical. Moreover, one of more of those PSTs may be
archive PSTs, which means Outlook will simply recreate them afresh if you do
merge them and remove them when done. Your friend can tell you which ones
may be archives.

Is there a way of merging all these *.pst files into one of them ?

Importing can work, but it's not usually recommended. I find right-click
and drag works fine. For any folders whose name matches one of the default
folder names (i.e., Inbox, Calendar, Taks, etc.), you must open the folder
and copy only the contents. You can't copy the folder itself and expect
merging to take place. You'll just get a duplicate folder name with "(1)"
or something similar appended. For the non-default folders, however,
clicking and dragging the entire folder is perfectly fine.