Outlook 2013 .PST problem 1

[mscallisto]

A friend has Windows 7 and Office 2013 and runs our Senior Center.
Her problem is she can’t receive new emails and I believe her .pst is full or maybe corrupted.

She was unable to delete e-mails so I had her permanently delete the large files that she doesn’t need using (SHIFT+DELETE).

Now I know that she needs to compact her .pst to free up the space.

I would first like to backup her original .pst and would simply copy to a new folder and rename to original .pst, is this sufficient?

Next in Outlook: file > acct settings > acct settings > tab Data Files > open file location > click compact .pst

Does this sound like a safe method?

BTW I still have Windows XP and no longer use Outlook so I thought it wise to ask before I do something stupid like lose all her mail.

Thanks in Advance

Sam

 

[LyleU]

Sam,
According to Microsoft, the PST file size limit in Outlook 2010 and 2013 is preconfigured at 50 GB. See this support article: Link

You can either work within this limit or it can be changed by making a registry change in Windows. I never recommend making this kind of change without prior knowledge and proven registry backups. A slip-up in the registry can have dire consequences. Here is the Microsoft article discussing how to make the change. (Note that it applies to Office 2003 through 2013.) Link



Lyle
----
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." - Arthur C. Clarke.

 

[mscallisto]

Thanks for the link Lyle it was useful.

I have backed-up my registry then made changes with Regedit many times in the past and survived so I'm as comfortable as I can reasonably be with doing so.

But I don't believe I need to increase her .pst size so no registry changes needed.

As I said I had her remove a few bushels of UN-needed e-mails with huge attachments (10-30 Mb each) and she is still removing more. I hope to see her remove at least 20%.

Now I know that she needs to compact her .pst to free up the space.

In XP and Office/Outlook 2003, removing emails did not remove them from the .pst until you did a compact to release the space.

I believe my plan laid out above is OK but simply needed a second opinion since I'm not familiar with Office/Outlook 2013.

Sam

 

[upinflamezzz]

Just create an archive folder and move files there. This is pretty standard. I would find the pst file usually users\user name\appdata\local\microsoft\outlook see how big the pst is.