OL97: Compacting Outlook PST and OST Files

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SUMMARY

If you use a Personal Folders file (PST) or an Offline Store file (OST) in Microsoft Outlook 97, you can compact the file to eliminate deleted item space and recover room on your hard drive. This article describes how to do this.

MORE INFORMATION

To conserve disk space on your computer's hard drive you can delete unwanted items from the various PST and/or OST folders and then compact the files to make their size smaller.

NOTE: Deleting the unwanted items from each folder only moves them to the Deleted Items folder in the same file. You must delete the items from there before they are permanently deleted so that the file can be compacted.

The compacting process will not remove all the free space from the file. It will leave either 16 KB or 4 percent of the file size before compacting, whichever is greater.

The file to be compacted must meet the following requirements:

• The file to be compacted must be 16 KB or larger.
• The file must have at least 16 KB of space freed since the last time it was compacted.

Automatic Background Compaction

PST files not on your computer may require manual compaction due to interactions between the computer where the PST files are stored and your computer.

Automatic compaction takes place as a MAPI, idle task in the background. Several conditions must be true for this background task to take place:

• Outlook must be running.
• The computer must not be engaged in other CPU-intensive tasks such as copying or downloading files.

To Manually Start PST Compaction

1. On the Tools menu, click Services.

2. Click to select Personal Folders, then click Properties.

3. On the General tab, click Compact Now.

4. Click OK and OK.

To Manually Start OST Compaction

1. On the Tools menu, click Services.

2. Click to select Microsoft Exchange Server, and click Properties.

3. On the Advanced tab, click "Offline Folder File Settings."

4. Click Compact Now.

5. Click OK, OK, and OK.

Keywords          : EvnPrfm GnlFileM GnlFold
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto kbinfo