Increasing the size of a PST file.

[yellowtriumph]

I use Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 on my W7 laptop. I use it for my email and it is generally just fine.

Today it came up with a warming notice to say that the PST file was approaching its maximum capacity and that I should delete any unwanted messages (I presume to make space) or to consider updating to Outlook 2013 as that had the ability to have a larger PST file size.

Its there any way to increase the size of my existing PST file and keep it all pretty much the same - or should I consider the update route? I am slightly nervous about the update route as these things can sometimes go awry.

I have looked at my existing PST file using explorer and it is 1.9GB in size.

What does the team think?

[PPRuNe Dispatcher]

It's easy to create a second PST file in outlook and move some email from the current PST to the second PST file. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/287070/how-to-manage--pst-files-in-microsoft-outlook

My work laptop had four additional PST files on it.....

PPD

[Saab Dastard]

Are you sure it's Outlook 2010 that you are using? If so, are you sure you are looking at the right PST file?

1.9GB is nowhere near the maximum file size for a PST in Outlook 2010 - maximum is 50GB. If it were 19GB that would be close to the limit in Outlook 2007 and earlier (20GB).

It is possible to increase or decrease the maximum size of the PST in the registry, so it's possible that it has been decreased at some point to 2GB.

I'm using Outlook 2010 and the PST containing the inbox is 3.5GB. I archive stuff at the end of each year to a year.PST, so it will be reducing shortly! My other half has a 6.6GB PST, despite my suggesting archiving...

As PPRuNe Dispatcher says, you can easily create new PSTs and have them open in Outlook however you want.

But Outlook reporting that it's approaching the limit at 1.9GB is possibly indicating an underlying problem that you need to investigate.

SD

[le Pingouin]

Apparently there are two different PST file formats - an older one using ANSI encoding which has a limit of 1.9GB and a newer one using Unicode encoding which has the 50GB limit. Perhaps yellowtriumph's PST is using ANSI having come from an earlier Outlook version?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/832925/how-to-configure-the-size-limit-for-both--pst-and--ost-files-in-outloo

Here's how to tell which format you have: https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/config/determine-pst-ansi-unicode-format/

Methods for converting ANSI to Unicode: Convert an ANSI PST to a Unicode PST (http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/)

[yellowtriumph]

Apparently there are two different PST file formats - an older one using ANSI encoding which has a limit of 1.9GB and a newer one using Unicode encoding which has the 50GB limit. Perhaps yellowtriumph's PST is using ANSI having come from an earlier Outlook version?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/832925/how-to-configure-the-size-limit-for-both--pst-and--ost-files-in-outloo

Here's how to tell which format you have: https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/config/determine-pst-ansi-unicode-format/

Methods for converting ANSI to Unicode: Convert an ANSI PST to a Unicode PST (http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/)

Ah ha, thanks for the links. I have checked the PST file format and can confirm my Outlook is using the ANSI format with a limit of 2GB.

I am going to think about this for a day or two since experience tells me not to rush into anything so important. I have one PST file and the material within it is most valuable and it would be a disaster if I lost the material or corrupted it by acting in haste.

Looks to me that I should consider converting the file from ANSI to Unicode, but I ask myself will I lose any on my existing material if I do? Does the conversion process simply create a new 'Unicode' file (50GB) with my original 2GB of 'ANSI data' sitting in the first 2GB of it?

Of course it goes without saying that I should export my existing PST file to a safe back up location before trying any of this!

As I say, I will think about this for a day or two before proceeding - thanks to everyone for your support on this.

PS, I have deleted off some old emails to create enough working space for the time being.

[jimjim1]

One thing that has not been mentioned (as far as I can see) is that the pst file may shrink if "compacted". This removes space used by deleted messages from the file. If you have not deleted many messages then this will not help much. Copying messages into a new pst file (which I think has been mentioned) will of course also achieve this (if that is indeed such a thing - it is beyond my experience).

If short of email space focusing on messages with large attachments can provide big gains with small effort. Outlook (some versions?) can display messages sorted in order by size. I have in the past been able to easily spot duplicate messages with large attachments that have been forwarded back and forth creating multiple copies of the attachment. Delete the desired messages AND then compact the pst.

[Shaman]

I had the same issue as you some months ago.

I tried all the usual suggestions (see above) but they did not work for me and my W7 OS.

What did work for me was this freeware:

Free ANSI PST to Unicode PST software, Convert ANSI PST to Unicode PST, Convert Unicode PST to ANSI PST (http://www.winpst.com/Ansi_PST_to_Unicode.html)

P.S. Make a copy of the pst file before you start converting the original so that at least you have something to go back to if all else fails.

Good luck.

[le Pingouin]

Noting that I'm not an Outlook user, the best of the three solutions mentioned on the slipstick.com pages would appear to be the "manual" one.

[yellowtriumph]

I had the same issue as you some months ago.

I tried all the usual suggestions (see above) but they did not work for me and my W7 OS.

What did work for me was this freeware:

Free ANSI PST to Unicode PST software, Convert ANSI PST to Unicode PST, Convert Unicode PST to ANSI PST (http://www.winpst.com/Ansi_PST_to_Unicode.html)

P.S. Make a copy of the pst file before you start converting the original so that at least you have something to go back to if all else fails.

Good luck.

I am intending to make a copy of the original PST file using the simple copy and paste function, and to perform an Export of the same original PST file too. Does that sound about right?

So, you simply selected the source file and the free software program did the rest? But that I mean, it takes the original ANSI PST file, converts it to Unicode file, stuffs the original PST content into that new Unicode file, then puts the new Unicode file back where the original Ansi PST file resided - and Outlook just carries on as normal but now with an increased capacity put of 50GB? Did you not need to change anything within the outlook 2010 program to tell it that something has changed and 'you' need to be across it?

Sorry for the simplistic style of questions, but I don't want to cock this up! Thanks for your reply above.

[Shaman]

All I did was make a copy of the pst file and put it in a folder on my desktop as a standby file. Right click the pst file and select "copy".

[yellowtriumph]

Noting that I'm not an Outlook user, the best of the three solutions mentioned on the slipstick.com pages would appear to be the "manual" one.

Sorry le Pingouin, I'm not following your references to 'slipstick.com' ? I wondered if you were sort of co-referencing the suggestion above by Shaman but it's not obvious to me?

All I did was make a copy of the pst file and put it in a folder on my desktop as a standby file. Right click the pst file and select "copy".

Ok, thanks for that. I will make copy as you suggest but perhaps make another one on a portable HD I have too. This will have to wait for a few days as I am away. Thanks.

[le Pingouin]

slipstick.com is the domain of the links I mentioned up at message #4, specifically this one:

Convert an ANSI PST to a Unicode PST (http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/)

[yellowtriumph]

slipstick.com is the domain of the links I mentioned up at message #4, specifically this one:

Convert an ANSI PST to a Unicode PST (http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/)

Ah yes, sorry about that, I see now. I'll give this a go one way or another and report back.