Why is .pst no smaller after most data now in Archive?

[Ali Adnan]

I had a Outlook.pst file of some 7000MB, not huge, but running slow and most
mail was not in regular use.

I put Archiving into use on a 4 month schedule and, as expected, 80%
(guesstimate) of the data was moved to the Archive.pst file. Good I thought.

However both files are very similar in size still (Outlook 670609kb, Archive
638865kb) – looking in the Windows Explorer ‘Documents & Settings’ folder.
Both have been compacted too, with little change. If I then look at the
‘Folder Size’ on Outlook itself for each one, it tells a different story
(Outlook 119530kb, Archive 594964kb), which seems about right, or at least
more realistic.

Am I missing something, or shouldn't the Outlook.pst file now be much much
smaller, reflecting the fact that most of the data is now held in the
Archive.pst file. If not, what's the point of the Archive process?

Thanks in advance for any advice received on this.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

As the pst-file is a database, white space is not directly returned to
Windows. Outlook will do this automatically over time during idle time of
the computer.

You can force the compacting process by right clicking on the root of your
folder set-> Properties-> button Advanced-> button Compact Now
This process could take a while with the amount you have deleted. You might
want to do this overnight instead.

You really should not use the file level compact option in Windows on
pst-files. This will negatively affect Outlook's performance.

Additionally see http://www.msoutlook.info/question/81

 

[Ali Adnan]

The compacting option I did was at the highest level, just 'Personal Folders'
and again for 'Archive'. Was that not quite right?

 

[Ali Adnan]

Hmm, I was wondering, should I have been trying to do the compacting in
Outlook itself, or close that and do in Windows?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You'll need to do it from within Outlook. Doing it at file level in Windows
is a completely different type of compacting and can lead to poor
performance of Outlook.

 

[Ali Adnan]

Yep, that was what I tried. I used the compact option for just 'Personal
Folders'
and again for 'Archive'. No change to the size, but as I mentioned, the
‘Folder Size’ on Outlook itself shows the sort of sizes I would expect
(Outlook 119530kb, Archive 594964kb). Is this a Windows Explorer issue then?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

No, it is not an Windows Explorer issue.

How long does it take for Compact Now to complete?
Do you store your pst-files on your local hard drive or on a network share?

You might want to scan your pst-file for errors;
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/77