.PST file size does not reflect its content size + warning about Lookout

[David F]

Using Outlook 2000 + SP3.

I have used the Archive feature (manually) for the first time. The purpose
was to remove old email from a large "Personal Folder X".
It seems to do the job (I selected "Permanently remove...").
When I choose File->Properties->Folder Size" it indeed reflects the
reduction of the emails in the "Personal Folder X".
But when I looked at the file size with Windows Explorer, I was stunned to
see that it remained unchanged!

Is the physical size of a .PST unshrinkable ? Even if it is mostly empty?
Was this written by a programmer from the 1950s (early days files were fixed
size (irreversibly!) BEFORE creating them...) ?

What am I missing?
Anybody knows a decent utility/add-on to manage .PST files?

A warning about Lookout, now on the MS download center list:
1. When installed on Win 2K, it seems that you canned use it in User mode
(like many of the software industry, 6 years after W2K is in the market...)
2. If you try to respond to them by email, watch the attach files created
automatically - they contain personal information such as all your email
accounts, and more that was ripped illegally from your computer. They do
have a vague general statement in the top of the email about collecting
private info but why would they try to do that in the first place if not for
morbid reason?


Thanks
David

 

[Brian Tillman]

Using Outlook 2000 + SP3.

I have used the Archive feature (manually) for the first time. The
purpose was to remove old email from a large "Personal Folder X".
It seems to do the job (I selected "Permanently remove...").
When I choose File->Properties->Folder Size" it indeed reflects the
reduction of the emails in the "Personal Folder X".
But when I looked at the file size with Windows Explorer, I was
stunned to see that it remained unchanged!

Why shouldn't it? Outlook is effecient. If a message arrives that can't
fit in the existing PST, Outlook must ask the operating system to allocate
more space to the PST. This process is "expensive" in terms of computer
resources. However, if there is empty space already in the PST, Outlook can
simply reuse that space and not bother the operating system. Thus, when you
delete a message from a folder, the space it occupied in the PST is not
returned to the operating system, but marked as reusable "white space"
within the PST.

Is the physical size of a .PST unshrinkable ? Even if it is mostly
empty?

Of course not.

What am I missing?

An understanding of how Outlook uses PSTs. If you want to reduce the PST's
size, right-click its root, choose Properties, then Advanced and click
"Compact Now". The PST allocation should appear less in Windows Explorer.
Absent that, Outlook will perform an autocompaction on its own when certain
criteria are met.