Summary: Oversized or large Outlook Personal Folders (.pst) files are known to get corrupted or damaged. This post discusses ways to deal with too large PST files larger than 50 GB. It also explains what you can do if the large PST file turns corrupt. It also mentions an advanced PST repair tool that can easily repair corrupt PST files and efficiently manage large PST files.
Microsoft has defined 50 GB as the size limit for PST files in Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019. When the PST file reaches or exceeds this size limit, users start facing performance issues in Outlook. Also, large PST files may develop inconsistencies or errors and get corrupted. To avoid such scenarios of data loss, it is important to keep a tab on the Outlook PST file. In this post, we will mention different ways to deal with large or oversized PST files and how to reduce their size to prevent them from getting damaged or corrupted.
Ways to Manage Large PST File
There are several ways to manage large-sized PST file and reduce its size. Some of these include:
1. Use Cleanup Tool
You can use Cleanup tool in Outlook to manage and reduce the PST file size. This tool helps you view the mailbox size and find older or large items. Here’s how to use this tool:
- Open Outlook and go to File > Cleanup Tools.
- Select Mailbox Cleanup.
- Then, select options, such as View Mailbox Size, Find items older than, and Find items larger than. These will help you find and delete large or old items.
- Similarly, you can use the Empty Deleted Items Folder option to empty the Deleted Items folder and free up space. This can help manage and reduce the PST file size.
2. Move Data to New PST file
You can also manually reduce the PST file size by creating a new PST file and moving the mailbox data to the new file. This way you can split the data of your large or oversized PST file into other files. The steps are as follows:
- In Outlook, go to New Items > More Items > Outlook Data File.
- Enter a File name.
- To add a password, check the Add Optional Password box.
- Then click OK. You may type a password in both the Password and Verify Password text boxes and select OK again.
- You can create folders in the new PST file. For this, right-click and select the New Folder option.
- Now, you can move the mail items or folders from the large (existing) PST file to the new PST file.
3. Compact the PST File
In Outlook 2013 and later versions, you can use the ‘Compact Now’ feature to remove whitespace or space left by deleted items. This helps compact or compress the PST file and reduce its overall size. Follow these steps to compact the PST file:
- In Outlook, navigate to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.
- In the Account Settings window, click the Data Files tab and then select the .pst file that you want to compact.
- Next, click Settings.
- In the Outlook Data File box, click Compact Now, and then click OK.
4. Archive Old Mail Items
Archiving old emails is one of the effective ways to reduce the size of PST file. This helps you move older items from your mailbox that you don’t access often to a separate archive PST file. This helps keep the main PST file smaller and more manageable. The steps to archive older emails are as follows:
- In Outlook 2013, go to File > Info > Cleanup Tools > Archive. In Outlook 2016 and later versions, go to File > Info > Tools > Clean up old items.
- Click the Archive this folder and all subfolders option.
- Then, choose the folder you want to archive.
- In Archive items older than, choose or enter a date.
- Click Browse to choose a location where you want to save the archive PST file. Click OK.
5. Remove Duplicate Data from the PST File
Sometimes, large number of duplicate emails occupy a lot of space in PST file. There are various reasons that can lead to duplication of emails, including incorrectly configured Rules, short Send/Receive intervals, improper Mailbox settings, incorrect Account setup, etc. In that case, you can find and remove the duplicate emails from your Outlook. This can help reduce the PST file size.
What to do If PST File gets Corrupt due to Large Size?
In case you are not able to access your Outlook or mail items from PST or receive any error while opening Outlook, it could be due to PST file corruption caused by oversizing. In such a case, you can use Outlook’s inbuilt ‘Inbox Repair Tool’ (Scanpst.exe) to repair your corrupted Outlook PST file.
Since your PST is large, ScanPST.exe may fail to repair it. To repair your oversized PST file (up to 50 GB), you can use a specialized PST repair tool, such as Stellar Toolkit for Outlook. The tool is capable of repairing severely corrupt PST files and recovering all the file contents.
For dealing with an oversized Outlook PST file, you can use the following modules of Stellar Toolkit for Outlook.
- Split Outlook PST File – With this module, you can split a large PST file into multiple PST files by Size, Date, Email ID, and Mail Folder.
- Compact Outlook PST – This module allows you to compress the PST file and helps reduce the size of PST file.
- Remove Duplicate Emails – Using this module, you can remove duplicate emails from the PST file.
End Note
Large PST files can cause various issues in Outlook and are also easily prone to corruption. To avoid such issues, you can follow the above solutions to manage and reduce the size of PST file. However, one of the best solutions to deal with oversized PST file is to use Stellar Toolkit for Outlook. With this one tool, you can do all: repair damaged PST files, split Outlook PST, compact Outlook PST, and remove duplicate emails from the PST file. Apart from this, it can convert multiple OSTs to PST files, recover deleted Outlook emails, merge multiple PSTs, and recover lost passwords from PST.
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