Easy way to compact PST file

Compact Outlook PST file

As we have read that PST file is an important component of MS outlook because PST file stores large number of personal information like email, tasks, notes, calendar, appointments, journals, mails etc. So it is quite possible that system performance go slow down due to increased size of PST file. 

You may also experience delay in accessing outlook emails or reading emails. If you are facing this problem first time than you must not be aware about how to overcome this problem. Here is the solution in such a case when PST file size increase we need to compact the PST file so that we could get fast performance of Outlook emails.
Before discussing about key benefits of PST file first we should know how large sized PST file affects Outlook performance

Drawbacks of Large Sized Outlook PST file

• Large sized PST file make Outlook behavior cranky (freezes or hangs)
• Large sized Outlook PST file barriers in Outlook performance
• Large sized PST file enhances the chances of data corruption
• Large sized Outlook PST file creates trouble in reading and writing of emails

Before we compress PST file let me brief or give you an idea about the benefits of compacting PST files: These are as follows: 

• Outlook will improve its performance to access PST file
•  It will reduce PST file corruption and data loss
• You can reduce the size of the PST files 
•  Increase disk space in your system

 Points to Remember

It is advisable before you compact the PST file to delete unwanted or unused data from PST file. Once you are confirm that you have deleted the unused data then you can start compacting PST file. Compacting PST file will reduce the file size and risks of data corruption.

Necessities for compacting PST file

1. Size of the file should be greater than 16 KB
2. It is necessary that there is at least 16KB free hard disk space of the previous free space available before it was compacted.

 Manual Method to compact PST files through MS Outlook

• Delete all unwanted emails from your mailbox
• Point to navigation pane click  on icon “Folder list” categorize under “Folder list view”

 Folder List View

Select Empty folder categorized under “Deleted Items Folder”

Deleted Items Folder

Point to File Menu Select option “Account Settings”

Account Settings

Click on option “compact Now” categorized under Data files > Advance > Outlook Data File Settings> Compact Now as shown in fig 

Compact PST file

  Finally, you need to click on OK button and then click on Close button.

     Above mention method free method available to user but surely have some disadvantages. This free       method will not promise user for assured results and 100% effective compression of PST data file. It may be possible user will lost their data.

In case you are facing some problem in compacting PST file by above method than you can also try third party Compact PST software to compact your mails by extracting all your attachments to a different folder. Here I would suggest user to use professional software like Stellar Phoenix Compact PST software. To know more about software please follow their website.