Comments for Why isn't my Outlook PST getting smaller after deleting emails?

Comment from Peter on 2011-04-20

2011-04-21T01:51:04Z

Finally, done. My 10.3 G file is now a relatively svelte 6.0 G. Thanks, Leo.

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Comment from Peter on 2011-04-20

2011-04-20T20:41:44Z

For all you impatient people (like me): Perhaps you are frustrated by the deafening silence of the process. If so, go to the place where your pst is stored and you will be able to see (using refresh) the progress of the compaction. My 10.3 G file is now 8.45 G and shrinking.

...counting backwards from 8 billion is still a daunting task...

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Comment from Peter Staecker on 2011-04-20

2011-04-20T20:32:21Z

Leo,

Is it possible to defrag the pst (outside of Outlook) to reduce the crazy wait time? My 10G file has been cranking away for 6 hours?

The PST defrags like any other file, so if you defrag your machine that'll help it. If you mean its internal structures, then compacting is what you want. And for the record, while I know it *should* work these days, a 10 gigabyte PST makes me nervous.

20-Apr-2011

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Comment from Mohit Mathur on 2010-11-30

2010-11-30T09:31:59Z

Hello,
Even after using the above methods doesn't completely reduce your PST file size, then you can try Stellar Compact PST File which will Compress PST File size to a considerable limit. The software compacts PST file items like emails, contacts, notes, attachments, tasks, journals etc & hence saves it from corruption.

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Comment from Manish on 2010-10-19

2010-10-19T08:16:23Z

Hey Leo,

I use MS Outlook 2007, the present .pst size is 10GB, i archived which sized to 3.7GB, unfortunately, the .pst size is still 10GB. As mentioned above, i tried 'compact' feature, no reduction in the 10GB file. I tried scanpst.exe, no reduction in the 10GB file. Is there anything else i can try or use a 3rd party tool to get this right? please advice.
Regards,
Manish

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Comment from Irv Fisher on 2010-08-05

2010-08-05T13:00:51Z

I use Outlook 2007 with large file size. The .pst measured 4.4gb before I ran an archive for everything over 3 months old. Clicking the Folder Size button in Personal Folders Properties shows a total of 641424kb of data in all the folders/subfolders. After compacting, it reports a .pst file size of 2.9gb. Better, but nowhere near what it should be with Short of exporting the database to a new .pst file and tricking Outlook to accept it as the active .pst, any other suggestions?

Check some of the other folders that you might not use often - for example journalling, if turned on, can eat up a lot of space.

07-Aug-2010

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Comment from Bubrak on 2010-08-01

2010-08-01T23:03:00Z

Hi, just note - in 2 days the outlook.pst reduced from 5.8 GB to 4.9 GB, so it seems it is doing something but very slowly , approx 0.5GB per day. So some little light at tunnel end. :-)

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Comment from Bubrak on 2010-07-31

2010-07-31T21:24:19Z

I have same issue as AML, compacting just wont work, it takes 2sec and closes. pst file has 5.8GB even after archiving to archive.pst which has now 5.1GB, so i was thinking about reducing outlook.pst from 5.8 to 0.7 (as 5.1 went to archive.pst) but nope.

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Comment from Ashutosh Sodhani on 2010-05-25

2010-05-26T06:27:19Z

If you don't see the "Compact Now" option where Leo advised, here is the alternate location.
Tools->Options->Mail Setup->Data Files->Choose the data file and double click -> Compact now.

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Comment from Daniel Santos on 2010-04-28

2010-04-28T19:54:14Z

Today is april 28th. I've just spent all day trying to understand why afer deleting ALL of my emails my pst file wouldn't get smaller. It's 4:53 pm and I've just seen this topic. I just wanna say THANK YOU, Leo!!! And [edited] Microsoft...

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Comment from Gil Hanoch on 2010-04-17

2010-04-17T18:34:38Z

After clearing your "Deleted Items" folder and compacting the PST, your PST maybe still be substantially larger than the folder sizes inside. The next step would be to create a new PST, and move all folders to it, one by one.

Make sure to switch to "Folder List" view, so you can drag the contents of the calendar, tasks and notes as well.

After completing the job, you should be happy to see a huge further reduction (depending on your case), but now you will have to configure all the display parameters for the different folders, including which columns are shown, group by, category list, etc. I need to find out where this configuration data is stored, so I could copy it to the new PST, without manually redoing it.

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Comment from Rich Emanuel on 2010-03-31

2010-03-31T14:36:31Z

Never ceases to amaze me. If you want to find out how to accomplish tasks such as this one you will never find the answer by going to Microsoft for help. It takes people like Leo to give you a direct answer that does just what you asked for. Microsoft gives you pages and pages of information that sucks up all your time reading and never leads you to the answer you need.

Thanks Leo

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Comment from Andy Lord on 2010-02-23

2010-02-23T17:47:12Z

I have a pst file that after archiving a bunch of things. and cleaning out the deleted items folder will not compact. When I run it the dialog "compacting" show for a couple seconds and goes away. Any thoughts?

AML

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Comment from Aaron on 2010-01-13

2010-01-13T22:49:27Z

Manually compacted but 500MB pst file with only 145MB in total folders won't get smaller. Used to work.

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Comment from Ric on 2010-01-07

2010-01-08T03:22:43Z

Hi there. I had a huge main outlook.pst file (3gig), and to start the year fresh I decided to break it up into several PSTs. After i was done, I chek the folder size in my Outlook and it says my outlook.pst file is less than 1gig, but when I see the same pst file size in windows explorer it says 7.7gigs.

any info would be really appreciated
thanks!
Ric

Be sure to empty the recycle folder, and then leave Outlook running overnight and it'll probably compact the file.

08-Jan-2010

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Comment from Surin on 2009-10-28

2009-10-29T05:25:24Z

Leo,

Thanks. Great advise. My outlook file bloated to 9GB - while I have removed some older mails to a new pst - my active pst showed 9GB while the personal folders were less than 3GB - as you may have gathered, I receive a heavy e-mail load...

How long does it take to compact the file?

Best,

Surin

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Comment from L. Morgado on 2007-02-02

2007-02-03T00:27:47Z

Thank you so much for the 'compacting' option. After the longest time, in order to do a backup of the .pst file over a network, I've been trying to figure out what made the file smaller and now, thanks to you, I know. Thanks again.

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Comment from Terry Hollett on 2007-01-20

2007-01-20T14:01:50Z

I use 'SeaMonkey' formally 'Mozillasuite' and the integrated email client. I used a program to back it up one time and it was only a few megabytes in size, then at another time I ran a second backup and the file was over 50MB in size.

I always chose the option to delete the cache and couldn't understand what was going on. I went to my email folder and found some very large files there like the one called 'inbox', there was no extension.

I went online to see if I could safely delete this file, thats when I discovered what 'compacting' meant.

With Seamonkey and Thunderbird, just rightclick on each folder you want to compact and chose the option from the menu.

http://www.geocities.com/terryhollett2003/compact.htm

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