OutLook vs. OutLook Express mail storage?

[BobAchgill]

OutLook Express stores each mail folder as a separate .dbx file.

How does OutLook store mail??

I need to know this so I can plan my upgrade strategy. I presently store
all previous years email in separate local folders by year.

Thanks!

Bob

 

[M]

OutLook Express stores each mail folder as a separate .dbx file.

How does OutLook store mail??

I need to know this so I can plan my upgrade strategy. I presently store
all previous years email in separate local folders by year.

Thanks!

Bob

Outlook stores your messages, calendar, tasks, etc. in one .pst file.
Versions after Outlook 2003 have up to a 20GB storage capacity. Versions
prior to 03, have a 1.9GB capacity. To back up Outlook, all you have to
do is copy the .pst file to external media and when you reinstall
Outlook, you open the saved .pst file and copy or move the messages to
your new .pst file.

BTW, Outlook Express is no longer supported and I think you will find
that Outlook is a much better email application.

M

 

[M]

Outlook stores your messages, calendar, tasks, etc. in one .pst file.
Versions after Outlook 2003 have up to a 20GB storage capacity. Versions
prior to 03, have a 1.9GB capacity. To back up Outlook, all you have to
do is copy the .pst file to external media and when you reinstall
Outlook, you open the saved .pst file and copy or move the messages to
your new .pst file.

And you open it within Outlook using File/Open/Outlook Data File and
browse to where you saved the .pst file.

 

[BobAchgill]

So OutLook will only let me make searches against 20GB of email on my
desktop? I'm already up to 15GB and growing fast!

Bob

 

[M]

So OutLook will only let me make searches against 20GB of email on my
desktop? I'm already up to 15GB and growing fast!

Bob

Sure you don't mean MB? Outlook Express would explode long before you
reach 15GB. Its limit is 100 MB per folder.

Alias

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

So OutLook will only let me make searches against 20GB of email on my
desktop? I'm already up to 15GB and growing fast!

Outlook can access more mail than your disk drive can hold no matter how large
it may be.

 

[BobAchgill]

Thanks Brian!

So no limit on mail volume with OutLook. One hundred GB is not a problem
from what you are saying

Can the data store be split across multiple .pst's and still be able to do
seamless searches on mail? Two GB .pst's will be more manageable for backup.

Thanks!

Bob

PS. the limit on OE file size was 2GB according to my experience. I keep
about two years of email in my inbox 2GB and then spin the 3rd year back off
to a local folder so I can continue to have search access.

 

[M]

Thanks Brian!

So no limit on mail volume with OutLook. One hundred GB is not a problem
from what you are saying

Note that Brian wrote "access". There's about a 20GB limit.

Can the data store be split across multiple .pst's and still be able to do
seamless searches on mail? Two GB .pst's will be more manageable for backup.

Thanks!

Bob

PS. the limit on OE file size was 2GB according to my experience. I keep
about two years of email in my inbox 2GB and then spin the 3rd year back off
to a local folder so I can continue to have search access.

Two GIGAbytes? 2000 megabytes? In Outlook Express?

M

 

[BobAchgill]

Note that Brian wrote "access". There's about a 20GB limit.

So what does "access" unlimited mail mean if there is a 20GB limit?



Can I do seamless searches across unlimited numbers of 20GB .pst's??

Two GIGAbytes? 2000 megabytes? In Outlook Express?

Yes. Two GIGAbytes, 2000 megabytes. That is when OutLook Express 6 begins
to lose it with a single mail folder having 2GB of data. I just presume it
was because it was the OS limit. When it would lock up I would go online to
hotmail and delete a few of my notes with big attachments. .. then restore
the offending .dbx with a earlier backup version of that folder and
everything was OK again. That was my que that i needed to spin off some
older notes to a separate local folder.

 

[Gordon]

So what does "access" unlimited mail mean if there is a 20GB limit?

It means that you can have more than one pst file open all up to 20GB -
though I can't IMAGINE why anyone would want to keep 20GB of email, never
mind more than that...

 

[BobAchgill]

It means that you can have more than one pst file open all up to 20GB -
though I can't IMAGINE why anyone would want to keep 20GB of email, never
mind more than that...

Thanks Gordon...
By "open" does that mean that one search will seamlessly span all .pst's?

Is it a big deal or performance hit to "open" them? I will want to always
have all .pst's open.

 

[M]

So what does "access" unlimited mail mean if there is a 20GB limit?




Can I do seamless searches across unlimited numbers of 20GB .pst's??



Yes. Two GIGAbytes, 2000 megabytes. That is when OutLook Express 6 begins
to lose it with a single mail folder having 2GB of data. I just presume it
was because it was the OS limit. When it would lock up I would go online to
hotmail and delete a few of my notes with big attachments. .. then restore
the offending .dbx with a earlier backup version of that folder and
everything was OK again. That was my que that i needed to spin off some
older notes to a separate local folder.

POP or IMAP?

M

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

So no limit on mail volume with OutLook. One hundred GB is not a problem
from what you are saying

Yes, but if you use one PST that large, you'll likely have performance
problems. Better is using multiple PSTs.

Can the data store be split across multiple .pst's and still be able to do
seamless searches on mail? Two GB .pst's will be more manageable for
backup.

Windows Desktop Search is a good tool for searching across multiple PSTs.
Outlook itself can't.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Note that Brian wrote "access". There's about a 20GB limit.

For Unicode PSTs, the theoretical limit in 2TB. You can increase the standard
20GB PST limit by changing registry settings.

 

[M]

For Unicode PSTs, the theoretical limit in 2TB. You can increase the
standard 20GB PST limit by changing registry settings.

Really? How?

M

 

[Gordon]

Really? How?

M

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925/

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook] wrote:

Really? How?

Go read the Microsoft Knowledgebase article that tells how. It's public
knowledge.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925