Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be?

Kebby · External Since: Jun 15, 2005 Posts: 2

Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big .pst file
and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst file is corrupted
every time I open Outlook.

KOrland · External Since: May 04, 2005 Posts: 440

I believe 2 Gb is the max, though Outlook 2003 may have a higher limit. Run
scanpst against the PST file to try and repair it. Use the search function to
find scanpst.exe, double-click it, and tell it where the pst file is to
repair. PST files can be very difficult to maintain once they become large
and can easily corrupt.
--
K. Orland
Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form
habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny

"Kebby" wrote:

> Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big .pst file
> and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst file is corrupted
> every time I open Outlook.

Brian Tillman · External Since: Mar 29, 2005 Posts: 20862

Kebby <Kebby.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big
> .pst file and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst
> file is corrupted every time I open Outlook.

It depends on your Outlook version, which you decided wasn't important
enough to mention. The limit is 1.83 GB for an Outlook 97-2002 ANSI-format
PST and about 33 TB (with a default of 20 GB) for an Outlook 2003
Unicode-format PST.

If you would post the exact text of the error message you'd do yourself a
favor and allow others to be able to help you. My guess is that it's not
saying that it's corrupt, but that it's saying it's checking for errors. If
you had a corrupt PST, you wouldn't see anything in Outlook. If Outlook is
checking the PST for errors at each startup, then you have something not
allowing Outlook to close correctly and you can pursue that with the ideas
at http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm and
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/outlookdoesntclose.htm
--
Brian Tillman

Andreas Roeder · External Since: Oct 16, 2004 Posts: 800

Kebby wrote:
> Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big .pst
file
> and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst file is
corrupted
> every time I open Outlook.

Hi Kebby,

which Outlook Version?
OL2002 1,8GB and OL2003 up to 3TB!
If your pst file have an error please run scanpst.exe.

--
Thank you for watching us! Wink

webmaster.TakeThisOut@andreas-roeder.net
http://www.andreas-roeder.net

bob · External Since: Feb 02, 2005 Posts: 67

how can I view to delete some of the information in this file to manage the
size of it?

"Kebby" wrote:

> Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big .pst file
> and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst file is corrupted
> every time I open Outlook.

Malcolm · External Since: Mar 22, 2006 Posts: 12

Kebby said the default is 2 gigs, how does one increase that I am getting
warnings with 2 gigs & want to increase it & can't find out how.
Thanks so much...
Malcolm

"Brian Tillman" wrote:

> Kebby <Kebby.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big
> > .pst file and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst
> > file is corrupted every time I open Outlook.
>
> It depends on your Outlook version, which you decided wasn't important
> enough to mention. The limit is 1.83 GB for an Outlook 97-2002 ANSI-format
> PST and about 33 TB (with a default of 20 GB) for an Outlook 2003
> Unicode-format PST.
>
> If you would post the exact text of the error message you'd do yourself a
> favor and allow others to be able to help you. My guess is that it's not
> saying that it's corrupt, but that it's saying it's checking for errors. If
> you had a corrupt PST, you wouldn't see anything in Outlook. If Outlook is
> checking the PST for errors at each startup, then you have something not
> allowing Outlook to close correctly and you can pursue that with the ideas
> at http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm and
> http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/outlookdoesntclose.htm
> --
> Brian Tillman
>
>

Diane Poremsky [MVP] · External Since: Jul 28, 2005 Posts: 6715

What version of Outlook do you use? If you use Outlook 2003 or 2007 you can
make a Unicode pst, but if you use an older version, you need to make a new
pst or archive/delete mail from the pst.

To add a new pst, go to File, New, Outlook Data file or File, Data file
management.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:dailytips-subscribe-request@lists.outlooktips.net

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"Malcolm" <Malcolm DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DF6327B9-97BD-46B1-A1D4-C6CE74855B60@microsoft.com...
> Kebby said the default is 2 gigs, how does one increase that I am getting
> warnings with 2 gigs & want to increase it & can't find out how.
> Thanks so much...
> Malcolm
>
> "Brian Tillman" wrote:
>
>> Kebby <Kebby DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big
>> > .pst file and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst
>> > file is corrupted every time I open Outlook.
>>
>> It depends on your Outlook version, which you decided wasn't important
>> enough to mention. The limit is 1.83 GB for an Outlook 97-2002
>> ANSI-format
>> PST and about 33 TB (with a default of 20 GB) for an Outlook 2003
>> Unicode-format PST.
>>
>> If you would post the exact text of the error message you'd do yourself a
>> favor and allow others to be able to help you. My guess is that it's not
>> saying that it's corrupt, but that it's saying it's checking for errors.
>> If
>> you had a corrupt PST, you wouldn't see anything in Outlook. If Outlook
>> is
>> checking the PST for errors at each startup, then you have something not
>> allowing Outlook to close correctly and you can pursue that with the
>> ideas
>> at http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm and
>> http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/outlookdoesntclose.htm
>> --
>> Brian Tillman
>>
>>

Roady [MVP] · External Since: May 17, 2004 Posts: 10239

You can't increase the size of an ANSI formatted pst-file. To take advantage
of the new 20GB limit you must create a Unicode formatted pst-file.
For details see;
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/115

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Malcolm" <Malcolm.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DF6327B9-97BD-46B1-A1D4-C6CE74855B60@microsoft.com...
> Kebby said the default is 2 gigs, how does one increase that I am getting
> warnings with 2 gigs & want to increase it & can't find out how.
> Thanks so much...
> Malcolm
>
> "Brian Tillman" wrote:
>
>> Kebby <Kebby.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone know how big can the .pst file be? I have a very big
>> > .pst file and it is giving me an error message saying that the .pst
>> > file is corrupted every time I open Outlook.
>>
>> It depends on your Outlook version, which you decided wasn't important
>> enough to mention. The limit is 1.83 GB for an Outlook 97-2002
>> ANSI-format
>> PST and about 33 TB (with a default of 20 GB) for an Outlook 2003
>> Unicode-format PST.
>>
>> If you would post the exact text of the error message you'd do yourself a
>> favor and allow others to be able to help you. My guess is that it's not
>> saying that it's corrupt, but that it's saying it's checking for errors.
>> If
>> you had a corrupt PST, you wouldn't see anything in Outlook. If Outlook
>> is
>> checking the PST for errors at each startup, then you have something not
>> allowing Outlook to close correctly and you can pursue that with the
>> ideas
>> at http://www.slipstick.com/problems/close.htm and
>> http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/outlookdoesntclose.htm
>> --
>> Brian Tillman
>>
>>

wangdong · External Since: Aug 18, 2009 Posts: 19

Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions limit the size of Personal
Folders (PST) file to 2GB. Whenever the PST file reaches or exceeds
that limit, you will not be able to open or load it any more, or you
cannot add any new data to it. This is called oversized PST file
problem. More detailed information can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/2gb-pst.htm

You can use Advanced Outlook Repair to solve the problem, by either
converting it into Outlook 2003 format ( http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/convert-2gb-pst.htm
), or splitting it into smaller pieces ( http://www.datanumen.com/aor/problems/split-2gb-pst.htm
)

http://www.datanumen.com/aor/ contains the detailed information about
Advanced Outlook Repair.

And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/aor.exe