Outlook PST files

[Guest]

Following several desktop and laptop crashes during the last year which has
invariably meant saving all files and then re-intalling the Operating System
I've managed to generate over 70 *.PST files which I would now like to
rationalise.

Many of them are over 500mb and are called Outlook.pst and are saved in
various folders. I imagine that due to their size they contain all of my
e-mail, calenders, tasks etc.

I have a bunch of files called Outlook.pst which are exactly 265 kb in size.

And a bunch of files called archive.pst which are of various sizes.

Can anyone recommend a method of integrating these back into my exisitng
"set-up and then allowing Outlook to rationalise. Or is there another way of
sorting these files out?

Regards,


Phil

 

[Brian Tillman]

Can anyone recommend a method of integrating these back into my
exisitng "set-up and then allowing Outlook to rationalise. Or is
there another way of sorting these files out?

Open each in turn (File>Open>Outlook Data File) and drag-and-drop the data
to your current PST or use File>Import and Export to import each into your
current PST. I'd use the former method, as control is better over what gets
moved and where.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Following several desktop and laptop crashes during the last year
which has invariably meant saving all files and then re-intalling the
Operating System I've managed to generate over 70 *.PST files which I
would now like to rationalise.

Understandably. Note that if you make regular backups of your PST file (as
well as all data you care about) this should not be a problem in the future.
If you need to wipe/reinstall your OS & apps, all you need to do after
reinstalling Outlook & setting up a profile is close outlook, delete the new
outlook.pst file it created, and after restoring your backed up data, point
Outlook at the "real" PST file you want.

I suggest storing all data in something easy like c:\data - and your PST
file in c:\data\myname.pst to keep this easier.

Many of them are over 500mb and are called Outlook.pst and are saved
in various folders. I imagine that due to their size they contain all
of my e-mail, calenders, tasks etc.

I have a bunch of files called Outlook.pst which are exactly 265 kb
in size.

And a bunch of files called archive.pst which are of various sizes.

Can anyone recommend a method of integrating these back into my
exisitng "set-up and then allowing Outlook to rationalise. Or is
there another way of sorting these files out?

What version of Outlook do you run? Note that in OL2002 and prior, a PST
file can be only 2GB in size, so if you were to try to incorporate all the
data into a single PST file, you'd probably be out of luck. In fact, PST
files larger than 1.5 GB usually have problems. Outlook 2003 can handle much
larger files if you create a new PST file in there and choose the new
Unicode format....

Regardless, you can open each PST file in Outlook by choosing file | open...
and selecting the file. You can then copy whatever you wish to your "real"
PST file, presuming the file size will permit this....

If y

 

[Guest]

Hi Brian,

Thank you very much for the clear and concise explanation. I'm sure that
this will help me clear out all the detritis!

Regards,

Phil

 

[Guest]

Hi,

The major problem with crashes and re-installs in the past has been the loss
of "personal data". While I do backup it is invariably the most recent
e-mails, calender changes and tasks that I need. So, I now have a second
hard drive on my desktop on which I keep all of my data and my outlook.pst
file. This aids re-installation considerably. The only thing I miss is the
loss of "settings" which I imagine are stored in the Registry. Is there a way
of backing up these settings onto a second hard drive?

I do have Office 2003 and so I imagine that I won't have a problem with
filesize!

What is the Unicide format though ... and can I convert to it?

Regards,

Phil

 

[Brian Tillman]

What is the Unicide format though ... and can I convert to it?

That's "Unicode" and it's OL 2003's native PST format. When you create a
new PST, you get the choice of creating one in OL 97-2002 format (ANSI) or
in OL 2003 format (Unicode). To convert to it, create a new PST and copy to
it everything in the old PST or import from the old PST. I'd choose the
former (copy).

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have a slightly different but related problem, in that it won't let me
import a .pst, as it brings up following error message"Translation warning -
TYou are importing data into a location that does not fully support Unicode.
To avoid loss of multilingual data, it is recommended that you choose a
location that supports Unicode, such as Microsoft Office Outlook Personal
Folders File - I am using Outlook 2003 - When I click OK to coninue with
chosen location, nothing happens...

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have a slightly different but related problem, in that it won't let
me import a .pst, as it brings up following error message"Translation
warning - TYou are importing data into a location that does not fully
support Unicode. To avoid loss of multilingual data, it is
recommended that you choose a location that supports Unicode, such as
Microsoft Office Outlook Personal Folders File - I am using Outlook
2003 - When I click OK to coninue with chosen location, nothing
happens...

What happens when you simply open the PST with File>Open>Outlook Data File?