What is the maximum size of pst files???

Hi to all.

I have a strange problem.

In my work we have a 2003 domain and the emails is in a exchange server (2007)

All the user's we use Outlook 2003 to send and receive email.

The Company's policy is to keep our personal EMAIL to personal folders.
Me .pst file has size 2,2 GBand othtlook they did not let me add more because it is full.
Other computer with the same configuration (Windows XP SP3) has 4,7 GB pst files and is not full yet.

I read the article 832925 but i did not found this entries in my registry Why??

Why other user the pst files is 4,7 GB an my pst files is only 2,2 and full??

Thanks for your time.

June 3rd, 2013 7:29am

The default maximum size for Unicode pst-files in Outlook 2003 is 20GB but can be extended. For ANSI, it is 2GB and can't be extended.

Considering that you are already over the 2GB, it is safe to say that you are using an Unicode formatted pst-file and you shouldn't have this issue.

Have you asked your IT-support already if they have implemented any file size limitations?

Are you storing the pst-file on your local computer or on a network share? Connecting to pst-files located on a network share is not supported or recommended by Microsoft as it could lead to poor performance, data corruption or even data loss. Make sure the pst-file is on a local hard drive of your computer and try again.

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June 3rd, 2013 8:04am

Thanks Roady for your answer.

The pst files is on a network share and our IT department says they did not have size limitation in the folder we store the pst files

Any other idea??

June 3rd, 2013 8:23am

The pst files is on a network share

Any other idea??

I already gave the solution in that case; Remove it from the network share and place it locally. You can of course regularly create a copy of your locally stored pst-files on the network share for backup purposes but you really should not continue to continue to work with a network connected pst-file.

It's impossible to predict what your "drop off" point would be and at what I/O level it would cr*p out completely. This can be different for each user in the network. It simply is an unsupported configuration.

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June 3rd, 2013 9:10am

The size of a .pst file depends on its format. There are two formats used by Outlook to save the .pst file: ANSI and Unicode. ANSI format is used in older versions of MS Outlook, such as: MS Outlook 2002 and earlier. While Unicode format is used in newer versions of MS Outlook, such as: MS Outlook 2003 and later, including 2013. There is a major difference between an ANSI and a Unicode .pst file. A .pst file of ANSI format has a limited size of 2 GB. It can't store more than 2 GB of data. If it exceeds this size limit, it may become corrupted or damaged. On other hand, there is no size limit for a Unicode .pst file, i.e. it can store data more than 20 GB and 50 GB in Outlook 2010. 

Coming back to you, the size of your .pst file is 2 GB and it is shown as full. Other user has a .pst file of 4.7 GB. It seems your .pst file is in ANSI format. To check whether you are in ANSI or Unicode, read this blog.

Thanks.

September 18th, 2013 10:38am

To check whether you are in ANSI or Unicode, read this blog.

The blog post is no longer available. It has been redirected to http://wordpress.semnaitik.com/2013/06/21/upgrade-outlook-pst-files/

Thanks and best regards.


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September 4th, 2015 2:34am

To check whether you are in ANSI or Unicode, read this blog.

The blog post is no longer available. It has been redirected to http://wordpress.semnaitik.com/2013/06/21/upgrade-outlook-pst-files/

Thanks and best regards.


September 4th, 2015 6:31am

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