Having hassles with oversized Outlook PST files. Even today, this is a common problem and when it happens, it can render your Outlook completely unusable. It was more prevalent in the older versions, but since many users are still on these versions, it is important to know how to repair.
With PST files, there was a filesize limit of 2Gigabytes. This was fixed as of Outlook 2003, but it also depends on the filesystem as ANSI files could only support a max size of 2GB. Listed below are the versions that suffered worst from this problem:
- Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Outlook 98 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Outlook 97 Standard Edition
While versions of Outlook 2003 onwards no longer have the 2GB PST limit on Personal Folders, but the limit still applies to IMAP accounts. The only way to get around the IMAP restriction is with Outlook 2007. This should allow for HTTP and IMAP accounts to use unicode, therefore the 2GB limit should not apply. But unless you can upgrade, you need to know how to fix the problem and avoid it in future.
You Can Easily Detect and Fix Oversized PST
Having an oversized PST file is very frustrating, because it is not reported. Generally the mail will just lockup, or it will seem to be working normally, but you won’t receive any new emails. This makes it very tricky to debug and it can be a real headache, as we usually check all the other problems first.
If you stop receiving email, start first by checking the filesize of your PST. If is near the 2GB mark, that is most likely the problem. In order to fix the problem, you need to delete emails or archive messages. Sometimes you might need to delete the messages directly from the server if your account is locked up. Fortunately, there are programs that can split and repair oversized PST files. A product like Stellar PST Repair can do this quite well and it can be safer than fiddling with the files yourself.
It is recommended that you archive mails on a regular basis and never let your inbox get too big. It will make email management easier and safer. You will also avoid issues such as inbox corruption.