Question

Does Archive also delete emails in the Outlook.pst file

Asked by: mgross333

This is for my customer; I fix PCs for a living. I have never personally done an Outlook Archive. I use Outlook Express on my Office PC, not Outlook. Please note there are TWO questions below.

MS phone support said if Outlook 2007 PST files are over 5 GB, problems will intermitently occur like opening Outlook and getting a message that Outlook is repairing the Outlook data file with a progress bar; occasionally much worse, it says it can NOT repair it and then we are in big trouble. Also there is lower performance and sometimes long delays.

The solution recommended by MS phone support was to Archive enough stuff to reduce the PST file to below 5 GB. MY customer did that.

THE PROBLEM IS AFTER THE ARCHIVE, THE OUTLOOK.PST FILE IS THE SAME SIZE IT WAS TO START WITH 8.5 GB. (Note: The Archive.pst file is 3.5 GB meaning he did not do enough BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM ASKING ABOUT HERE).

QUESTION: THE GOAL IS TO REDUCE THE OUTLOOK.PST FILE BY THE SIZE OF THE ARCHIVE.PST FILE (APPROXIMATELY).

Is the answer that Archive DELETES (i,.e moves the archived emails into the Deleted Items folder) AND THAT DOES NOT REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE OUTLOOK.PST FILE UNTIL MY CUSTOMER ***EMPTIES THE DELETED ITEMS FOLDER***

PLEASE CONFIRM THAT THE ABOVE IS THE CORRECT ANSWER
or
Provide another answer to reduce the size of the Outlook.pst file thru Archiving.

NOTE; The following is an Unacceptable answer. "Go to the deleted Items folder and check if all the archived items are there. If they are,. Empty the Deleted Items folder" It is Unacceptable because I am providing a solution by email and phone (as I am leaving for a trip and can NOT return onsite to check this and my customer leaves for Russia in 2 days). AND MY CUSTOMER WILL NOT TAKE THE TIME TO DO THIS CHECK. He pays me to provide accurrate answers; he has no time or interest in DOING MY JOB. He wants me to provide a reliable solution.

IMPORTANT: Do not reply to either question here UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE MEANING YOU PERSONALLY HAVE ARCHIVED (Outlook 2003 or 2007) AND NOTICED THAT THE ARCHIVED ITEMS GOT MOVED TO THE DELETED ITEMS FOLDER
or
Provide a link to a MS web site that says that (AND YOU ARE UNLIKELY TO FIND IT; THE MS OUTLOOK 2003 ARCHIVE HELP FILE IS EXTREMELY VAGUE ON THIS ISSUE).

(2) THERE IS A 2ND QUESTION.

Over time my customer will want to Archive again when the Outlook.pst file again gets over 5 GB. He will choose a date for the Archving to begin later in time (more recent).

QUESTION: DOES THAT CREATE DUPLICATES IN THE ARCHIVE.PST FILE OF ALL THE ITEMS HE ARCHIVED THE FIRST TIME. Note: The MS Outlook Archive Help file does not show a choice for DO NOT CREATE DUPLICATES like the Outlook Import Function does. So Archive must be "smart" enough to know that it makes no sense to create duplicates.

AGAIN NO GUESSING HERE. IF YOU ARE NOT 100% SURE THRU DOING OUTOOK ARCHIVES (EITHER 2003 OR 2007) or have a link to a MS article do NOT REPLY TO THIS POST.

Mike

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Asked On
2009-08-07 at 05:23:29ID24634440
Topic

Outlook Groupware Software

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Answers

 

by: mgross333Posted on 2009-08-07 at 05:34:33ID: 25041975

NOTE: I said above that "THE MS OUTLOOK 2003 ARCHIVE HELP FILE IS EXTREMELY VAGUE ON THIS ISSUE)." The referenced Help file is at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011216101033.aspx?pid=CL100626971033

Please note that it says (first sentence): "In Outlook, archiving is a way to back up or delete old items....."

"back up ***OR*** delete...".  OR ?????

Do you know see why I am posting here? The Offiical MS Help article does not even say it Deletes the Archived items ONCE to say nothing about Emptying the Deleted items folder. I.e Maybe my customers Outlook.pst file is not REDUCED IN SIZE is because it left all the archived items there, not deleted ???

Now I concede at the end of the article it says "The items in the folder are moved out of the folder and into the (Archive) .pst file that you specified." And "move" is different than copy and implies that they were deleted from the source, the Outlook.pst file. But because of the first sentence quoted above, the situation is confusing.

Mike

 

by: mgross333Posted on 2009-08-07 at 07:06:31ID: 25042758

I called MS Outlook support. The answers to my questions are

(1) Manual archive moves the archived emails to the Deleted Items folder in the Outlook.pst file. That is why after the manual archive the size of the Outlook.pst is unchanged. The solution is to Empty the Deleted Items folder in the Outlook.pst folder (right click it iand Select Empty Deleted Items folder and then click OK in next popup window).

(2) Further Manual archives will CREATE DUPLICATES in the Archive.pst file. The solution is to drag emails between new date and original archive date to the corresponding folders in the Archive.pst file noting that both sets of folders are available in Outlook AND HENCE DO NOT DO FOLLOWUP MANUAL ARCHIVES.  This is impractical for my customer as he has 50 subfolders to his Inbox !!! I will suggest he find things to delete instead in the future.

(3) ALSO IMPORTANT. THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT 5 GB size (per the MS Outlook Floor Supervisor). However if the Outlook.pst file is that large (8.5 GB) reducing its size significantly (ex to 5 GB) will reduce problems with Outlook 2007.

Regards,
  Mike

 

by: mgross333Posted on 2009-08-10 at 07:32:04ID: 25060221

Regrettably MS support is partly wrong, fully matching my previous TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE WITH ALL INDIAN TECH SUPPORT GROUPS REGARDLESS OF COMPANY AND INCLUDING THE SUPERVISORS.

However, the 2nd level or senior or escalation engineers are usually good. MS REFUSED TO TRANSFER ME TO THE ESCALATION ENGINEER (WHICH IS A 3 DAY PROCESS AT MS requiring management approval) as they actully have TO PAY THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN AT CORP HQ IN REDMOND, WA.

MS was right, that the emails are gone from the Outlook.pst (i.e Inbox, Sent, etc) and also not in the Deleted Items folder which was emptied by the customer before I called him. Hence whether the archived emails ever went to the Deleted Items folder is unknown.

HOWEVER THE FILE SIZE WHICH (PER MS SUPPORT) IS WHAT MATTERS IS COMPLETELY UNCHANGED AT 8.5 GB !!! And the customer still has temporary freezes some lasting a few minutes.

My plan is when the customer returns from a trip in a week, I will run Advanced Outlook Repair (AOR) from Datanumen which I expect will reduce the size to 5 GB as AOR does not repair emails in place, it instead reads everything in the Outlook.pst and creates at new Outlook.pst; this should create a 5 GB file as the archived emails are not in his Outlook.pst file OR SO MY CUSTOMER CLAIMS !!!

AOR main job is to remove corruption which could also be here.

He did the Archive saying OH, I  know how to do this AND REFUSED TO LET ME DO IT.

I will post here after I create a new Outlook.pst file using AOR as to the result (File size now 5 GB ?, freezes gone ?)

Mike

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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