PST file size not changing

[Charles]

I was trying to reduce the amount of clutter in my Outlook 2007, so I
went in and deleted a ton of files with big attachments. Watching the
PST file in windows explorer, it did not change at all. Can anyone
explain what's going on? The PST file is 2-3 times as big as what
Outlook says the database size is from within the program. Thanks for
any help. By the way, I'm definitely looking in the right place, as
the date on thie file is up to the minute.

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[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You won't see the file size change until you compact the file.

 

[Charles]

You won't see the file size change until you compact the file.

Hmm, I thought only Lotus Notes had that stupidity. Would it never
compact by itself if a person didn't know to do this? Just grow
indefinitely?

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[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

It would eventually compact itself if you left Outlook idle for a long
enough period of time. Apparently you are in a hurry.

 

[Evgeny Grischenko]

Dear Charles,
when messages with huge attachments are deleted, the PST file size is not
going to be reduced, because the data is not actually deleted, only the
storage of a message is marked as free. In order to delete the attachments
completely and reduce the size of the PST file, you should perform the
compression in Outlook (File - Outlook Data Management - Compact Now). Also,
it is not necessary to delete messages with big-sized attachments, but use
the add-in Attachment Processor for Outlook
(http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/attachments_processor/) to save all
attachments to the hard drive, leave links to them in the messages. After
that you can compact the storage. As a result, all files will remain
conserved on the hard-drive, linked to Outlook messages, and the size will
be reduced.
Hope this helps!


_________________
Eugene Grischenko
MAPILab Support
http://www.mapilab.com