Hello All!

I use MS Outlook for email at my shop. Over a year has
transpired since the covid stuff took over my life and I hadn't
been feeling like keeping up with the pace of incoming emails
that could normally be deleted. Sure enough, I was reaching the
2GB limit that MS Outlook has with its email .PST files.

My .PST file was at about 1.96GB

From there, it wouldn't be long before incoming email and the
ability to even delete emails would simply stop.

My vendors would often send catalog details with images and
attachments. 30% of the mail were messages over 100MB each!
About 30% more were emails between 20MB up to 100MB. What a
friggin freakshow email has become. Other messages had to do
with covid policies and announcements.

A lot of that sh*t simply had to go.

So, I decided to dedicate most of my day to purging old
material. Man.. it was so cathartic to simply delete most of
the incoming messages from 2019 and 2020.

I deleted over 1140 pieces of email, some not even read. But I
still had to walk through each and every one to ensure that I
wasn't deleting something like an invoice or a bill that I
needed.

Once the messages are deleted, the .PST file needs to be
compacted to eliminate the "empty spaces" and obtain the true
size of the file.

The result was a cool reduction from 1.96GB to:

Directory of C:\OUTLOOK Data

08/04/2021 09:39 AM 1,351,549,952 august.pst

That gives me some breathing room to grow again and ignore the
next batch of incoming crap.

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Re: covid purge
By: Ogg to All on Thu Apr 08 2021 10:48 pm

Hello All!

I use MS Outlook for email at my shop. Over a year has
transpired since the covid stuff took over my life and I hadn't
been feeling like keeping up with the pace of incoming emails
that could normally be deleted. Sure enough, I was reaching the
2GB limit that MS Outlook has with its email .PST files.

i just had to do that on all my accounts because they were getting so full. i used a program called email backup wizzard. let me know if you want it.
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On 2021-04-08 8:48 p.m., Ogg wrote:

I use MS Outlook for email at my shop. Over a year has

My .PST file was at about 1.96GB

From there, it wouldn't be long before incoming email and the
ability to even delete emails would simply stop.

The 2GB limit applies to ANSI formatted pst- and ost-files. Unless you
are still using pst-files which were created in Outlook 2002/XP or
previous, it is unlikely that your pst-file is still in the ANSI format.

By default, a Unicode pst-file or ost-file can grow as large as 20GB in Outlook 2007 and 50GB in Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and Office 365.

That's not to say a purge wasn't warranted or a good idea. Purging email
is cathartic, and is important for performance. I typically seem to
notice performance hits starting to rear their head in the ~15gb range,
and they increase as size goes up. It's like pulling teeth to get
clients to trim their inboxes though, and I have several in the 30gb+
range because they feel the need to keep everything they've ever
received since 2003 immediately accessible.

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Ogg wrote to All <=-

The result was a cool reduction from 1.96GB to:

Directory of C:\OUTLOOK Data

08/04/2021 09:39 AM 1,351,549,952 august.pst

That gives me some breathing room to grow again and ignore the
next batch of incoming crap.

What version of Outlook are you using? I thought they blew past the 2gb
limit with newer versions/PST formats?

Slipstick.com was a great site way back when for Outlook add-ons and information - one of the programs they had on there would automatically
remove attachments and put them in a folder hierarchy with the sender's name as the folder name. When I was managing large PSTs and before people could share links to OneDrive or Google Drive it came in handy.


... What is the simplest solution?
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Underminer wrote to Ogg <=-

That's not to say a purge wasn't warranted or a good idea. Purging
email is cathartic, and is important for performance. I typically seem
to notice performance hits starting to rear their head in the ~15gb
range, and they increase as size goes up. It's like pulling teeth to
get clients to trim their inboxes though, and I have several in the
30gb+ range because they feel the need to keep everything they've ever received since 2003 immediately accessible.

I left a job in 2016 after 10 years. It was cathartic to go through a mail purge, deleting all of the "Where do you want to go to lunch?" emails and automated log emails. In the end I knew what I had and knew how to find it, which came in handy.


... What is the simplest solution?
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
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Hello Underminer!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 03:24, Underminer wrote to Ogg:

The 2GB limit applies to ANSI formatted pst- and ost-files.
Unless you are still using pst-files which were created in
Outlook 2002/XP or previous, it is unlikely that your pst-
file is still in the ANSI format.

Ah... to recall a format option upon installation, but that was
a long time ago. What I have now is this:

http://pics.rsh.ru/img/ms-outlook_r6jnqsrg.jpg

Does the "(97-2002)" mean that I am using an old (ANSI) pst
format?

By default, a Unicode pst-file or ost-file can grow as large
as 20GB in Outlook 2007 and 50GB in Outlook 2010, 2013,
2016, 2019 and Office 365.

Thanks for the info. I always felt that the 2GB limit seemed
unreasonable for a premium product.

That's not to say a purge wasn't warranted or a good idea.
Purging email is cathartic, and is important for
performance.

+1 in the cathartic part! It felt good to get rid of the old
crap.

I typically seem to notice performance hits starting to rear
their head in the ~15gb range, and they increase as size
goes up. It's like pulling teeth to get clients to trim
their inboxes though, and I have several in the 30gb+ range
because they feel the need to keep everything they've ever
received since 2003 immediately accessible.

I only have about 11.5GB free space on that 222GB HDD. :( So,
it would be best to trash undeed stuff asap.

I *think* I figured out how to produce a pseudo-archive of the
current .pst file: copy the current .pst and rename it to the
archive name I want, then add it as an archive-type in the
Settings. That way it becomes part of the "Archive folders"
tree" in the navigation pane, and I can then access it incase I
need to search for something from 2 or 3 years or older. THEN,
purge the main (active) .pst to just a few messages in the
current year.

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Hello MRO!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 03:22, MRO wrote to Ogg:

i just had to do that on all my accounts because they were
getting so full. i used a program called email backup
wizzard. let me know if you want it. -+-

I've seen email backup utils for backing up cloud-based email to
local files. But my MS Outlook is local.


--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Ah... to recall a format option upon installation, but that was
a long time ago. What I have now is this:

http://pics.rsh.ru/img/ms-outlook_r6jnqsrg.jpg

Does the "(97-2002)" mean that I am using an old (ANSI) pst
format?

It might well be. Dang!

Thanks for the info. I always felt that the 2GB limit seemed
unreasonable for a premium product > I *think* I figured out how to produce a pseudo-archive of the
current .pst file: copy the current .pst and rename it to the

What I'd be inclined to do that would clean up most issues (assuming
you're running a version of outlook more recent than 2003):

Create a new profile with new data files, then you know you're not
running an old and intrinsically kneecapped format. Then you can either
import from the old pst into the new one, or mount it in the profile and
copy the messages/folders you want.

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Re: covid purge
By: Ogg to MRO on Fri Apr 09 2021 09:33 am

Hello MRO!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 03:22, MRO wrote to Ogg:

i just had to do that on all my accounts because they were
getting so full. i used a program called email backup
wizzard. let me know if you want it. -+-

I've seen email backup utils for backing up cloud-based email to
local files. But my MS Outlook is lo

if you want it from the local source there's free utils to extract it to eml or whatever
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Hello MRO!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 17:33, MRO wrote to Ogg:

I've seen email backup utils for backing up cloud-based email to
local files. But my MS Outlook is lo

My original message got sent before I remembered to finish it.
:( But.. you figured out precisely what I was about to write.

if you want it from the local source there's free utils to
extract it to eml or whatever -+-

I'm good now. From a few bits of info here, I was encouraged to
revisit the .PST format options that Outlook provided. Turns
out that my original .PST format was a retro version that only
supported a file size of 2GB max. I simply created a new .PST
file using the default file-type and then copied everything from
the old .PST file to the newly formatted .PST

The new .PST file format is supposted to support up to 20GB in
my Outlook 2007. But given that I have less than 11.5GB
diskspace free on my 222GB drive, I probably have a more
pressing thing to worry about soon. :(

--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Hello Underminer!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 15:10, Underminer wrote to Ogg:

Thanks for the info. I always felt that the 2GB limit
seemed unreasonable for a premium product > I *think* I
figured out how to produce a pseudo-archive of the current
.pst file: copy the current .pst and rename it to the

What I'd be inclined to do that would clean up most issues
(assuming you're running a version of outlook more recent
than 2003):

My email account was originally configured by a previous owner
at the shop that I now own and operate myself. I did not
realize that there were even two choices for the .PST format
type. My personal email account never ran into the 2GB limit
for 4 years that I worked there as an employee.

But as owner, I started getting all the promos and catalogs ..so
that started to add up quickly.

Create a new profile with new data files, then you know
you're not running an old and intrinsically kneecapped
format. Then you can either import from the old pst into the
new one, or mount it in the profile and copy the messages/
folders you want.

That's about what I did. It all looks ok now.


--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

But as owner, I started getting all the promos and catalogs ..so
that started to add up quickly.

U> Create a new profile with new data files, then you know
U> you're not running an old and intrinsically kneecapped
U> format. Then you can either import from the old pst into the
U> new one, or mount it in the profile and copy the messages/
U> folders you want.

That's about what I did. It all looks ok now.

Awesome. Glad it's worked out.

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Hello pF!

** On Friday 09.04.21 - 07:38, you wrote to me:

08/04/2021 09:39 AM 1,351,549,952 august.pst

What version of Outlook are you using? I thought they blew
past the 2gb limit with newer versions/PST formats?

I wasn't aware of the diffs between the .PST types across the
versions of OL. My email account was actually built by someone
else at the time. I think we started with OL 2003 and moved to
OL 2007 later on.

Slipstick.com was a great site way back when for Outlook
add-ons and information

Thanks for that. It looks like a good resource.

- one of the programs they had on there would automatically
remove attachments and put them in a folder hierarchy with
the sender's name as the folder name. When I was managing
large PSTs and before people could share links to OneDrive
or Google Drive it came in handy.

I still see people leaving photo attachements in their original
emails, and using the email program as their "album". One
person was doing this with their Outlook Express email program!
No matter how much I encourged that person to save the
attachment as a file and store it in a photo directory, they
would revert to leaving those things in their email. Eventually
OE broke and they lost pretty much everything. I set them up
with Thunderbird after I recovered as much from the old OE .db
files as I could, but they returned to the old ways of leaving
all attachments in the emails. Then they switched to MS Mail,
(and they wanted me to "convert" everything for that).. but
then, eventually MS Mail stopped support and stopped working
too. We're back to TB but this time it's a MAPI set up, so that
at least the stuff is saved/archived on their ISP server. And
so the story goes..

--- OpenXP 5.0.49
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
■ Synchronet ■ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Re: covid purge
By: Ogg to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Apr 10 2021 09:55 am

I'm looking into a 1L chassy micro PC. Hard to find Ryzen systems due to their limited avaliblity, but I wanted to ask here and see if anyone else had any good experiances with any boards or models in particular.

■ Crystal Palace, Orbitsville ■

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