Outlook
Background
Outlook
stores all of its data -- email, attachments, contacts and tasks -- in
a single file. When you create or receive email messages, contacts, calendar
entries, and tasks, Outlook saves the information in a data file on your
computer. This data file is called a Personal Folders file and is saved
with a .pst file extension. Eventually, this file can become
so large that Outlook will crash frequently, or worse yet, crash and corrupt
the data contained within the .pst file.
To
combat this problem, KIS recommends that you Backup and Archive the
information stored in your .pst file. How often you will need to
backup and archive your Outlook data depends on how heavily you use
Outlook and how much data you choose to store
within
the
.pst
file.
On Kellogg Laptop Program computers, your .pst file is located your My Documents folder in the Outlook subfolder.
Backing
up Outlook .PST files
As the size of your Outlook .pst file increases, the chances of that
file becoming corrupted increase as well. If the .pst file is corrupted,
you may lose all of the email, contacts, and tasks within the .pst file.
By backing up your Outlook .pst file, you ensure that you have a copy
of
the information
in
case
Outlook
becomes corrupted by software errors or hardware problems.
KIS recommends that you back up your Outlook .pst file once a week,
or whenever you are prompted to do so by Outlook.
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When the Outlook Personal Folders Backup screen appears, click
on the Save Backup button to back up any open .pst
files. The time for this process to complete will vary according
to the size and number of .pst files to be backed up, but should
only take a few minutes.
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You may also backup your .pst file without waiting for the Outlook
Personal Folders Backup prompt. From the File menu within Outlook,
select the Backup... option.
When the Outlook Personal Folders Backup screen appears, click
the Save
Backup button.
Exit Outlook
to begin the backup process.
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1. Close all open applications, including Outlook. You will not be able to back up your Outlook data if Outlook is open.
2. Insert a blank CD. If you are prompted to select an action, choose Open writable CD folder and click OK. Skip ahead to step 5 . If you are not prompted to open a writable CD folder, go to step 3.
3. Double-click the My Computer icon on your Desktop.
4. Double-click the DVD/CD-RW Drive (E:) icon.
5. Double-click the My Documents folder on the Desktop, then double-click the Outlook folder.
6. Right-click the Outlook.pst file and select Properties. If the Outlook.pst file is 675 megabytes (MB) or smaller, please skip to step 8 . If your Outlook.pst file is larger than 675 MB, the file will not fit on a CD. CDs can only hold approximately 700 MB of data. Don't worry, we will walk though "zipping" the file in the next step so it will be small enough to copy to CD.
7. If your file is larger than 675 MB, right-click the Outlook.pst file, select Send To, then select Compressed (zipped) folder. This will create a compressed copy of your Outlook data file that should fit onto a CD. The compressed copy will be called Outlook.zip.
NOTE: If your Outlook data file is larger than 1 gigabyte (GB), we recommend you proceed with zipping the Outlook.pst file now and copying it to CD. But we also strongly recommend archiving old email to reduce the size of your Outlook data file as soon as possible. Outlook data files larger than 1 GB can make Outlook unstable and there is a 2 GB max limit on Outlook XP data files. If your Outlook data file is larger than 1.8 GB, Outlook will crash frequently, and you may lose your Outlook data (email, contacts, calendar, etc.) which is all stored in the Outlook.pst file.
 8. Drag the Outlook.pst file (or Outlook.zip if you had to compress the file in step 7) from the Outlook folder to the DVD/CD-RW Drive (E:). You do not need to copy the Outlook backup.pst file to the CD.
9. Click the Write these files to CD link on the left side of the window (illustrated at right).
10. Windows will prompt you to name the CD (i.e., Outlook data). Enter a name, then click Next to copy your Outlook data to CD.
11. Once Windows has finished copying your Outlook data to CD, it will eject the CD. Remove the CD, click the Finish button and insert the second blank CD. |
12. To back up the rest of your data from the My Documents folder, go back to the My Documents folder and type CTRL-A to select all files and folders. Then hold down the CTRL key and click on the Outlook, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos folders to de-select these folders. Let go of the CTRL key.
NOTE: We recommend excluding these folders because you just backed up Outlook to the first CD. If you include the My Music, My Pictures and My Videos folders, it will make the My Documents folder too large to back up to one CD. These folders will need to be backed up separately if you store data in them.
13. All files and folders in the My Documents folder except Outlook, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos should be selected. Drag the selected files and folders to the DVD/CD-RW Drive (E:).
14. Click the Write these files to CD link on the left side of the window.
15. Windows will prompt you to name the CD (i.e., My Documents). Enter a name, then click Next to copy your data to CD.
16. Once Windows has finished copying your data to CD, it will eject the CD. Remove the CD, then click the Finish button.
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Archiving
Outlook Email
Performing
weekly backups ensures that you have a copy of your data, but it does
not decrease the overall size of your .pst file. To reduce the size of
your .pst file, you will need to archive old email. Archiving copies old
email messages and attachments to an Archive.pst file and then removes
the data from the main .pst file, decreasing its overall size. This will
optimize Outlook's performance while still allowing you to access email
messages and folders you need on a daily basis.
Items
moved to the Archive.pst file are still accessible -- to view them, open
Outlook, go to the File menu, select Open,
then Outlook Data File. Select your Archive.pst file,
then click OK. The email folders you archived will appear in the "All Mail Folders" list on the left side of the Outlook window. If
you don't see the list of mail folders, click the View menu and
select Navigation Pane.
How
frequently you need to archive your email in Outlook will depend
largely on the amount of email and email attachments you receive.
If you are a heavy Outlook user that frequently receives large email
attachments, you should consider archiving your email once a quarter.
If you rarely receive large email attachments, or frequently delete
unnecessary email messages, you may only need to archive your email
at the end of every academic year.
Regardless
of your usage patterns, your Outlook performance will begin to suffer
if your .pst file grows larger than 500 MB. To check the size of
your .pst file from within Outlook:
Click
the File menu, then
select Data File Management.
Select Personal Folders.
Click
the Open Folder button.
You
should see a window with all of your .pst files and their sizes.
If
the Outlook.pst file is larger than 500,000 KB, you should archive
your email.
There are
two different ways in which you can archive your Outlook email; either
option will work
properly, but the choice of one over the other is dependent on how
much control over the Archive process you wish to have.
Option 1: Manual Archive Procedure
The manual Archive option requires you to create an Archive.pst
file and manually move the messages and/or folders that you no longer
need in your
main
.pst
file. This option gives you more control
over the Archive process, allowing you to selectively pick folders and
messages to archive, regardless of date.
Option 2: AutoArchive
Outlook's AutoArchive wizard archives
mail by modified date. Specify a date and the AutoArchive folder will archive
all email modified before that date. The modified date differs from the received date in that if you receive a message on 8/1/2005 and forward it on 9/1/2005, it is then modified and will not be archived if you select all mail previous to 9/1/2005. Copying, replying to, and importing items will also change the modified date.
This option is faster and easier
than the manual archive procedure and preserves your current Outlook
email folder structure. However, it does not provide the
same level of control and flexibility as a manual archive.
Due to the manner in which
Outlook imports mail and address items, you will not be able to run
the AutoArchive wizard on any email messages or contacts that were
imported from email programs other than Outlook. If you are attempting
to archive items that were imported from Eudora or Outlook Express,
use the manual archive procedure.
Option
# 1 : Manual Archive Procedure
Before beginning the
Archive process, always back up your main .pst
file using the instructions here.
To
start the archive process, you will need to create an Archive.pst file:
Open Outlook.
Click the File menu,
click New, then choose Outlook Data
File.
Select Office Outlook Personal Folders
File (.pst) and
click OK.
Type archive.pst in
the File name field and click OK.
Type Personal
Folders Archive in
the Name field and click OK.
You should now see Personal
Folders Archive in
the list of "All Mail Folders" on the left side of the Outlook window. If Outlook is not configured to show the list of mail folders,
click the View menu then
click Navigation Pane.
You can
now move email messages out of your main .pst file into the Archive
folder. If you wish to
move entire mail folders, left-click on the
folder you wish to move and drag it into the Archive folder. If you
wish to
move only certain messages to the Archive folder, first make a folder
within Archive to hold the messages, then drag the messages out of
the main Personal Folder into the Archive folder.
Compacting
Once
you have moved all of the email folders and messages that you wish
to archive,
you need to
"Compact" your main .pst file. This
step is important,
as Outlook does not automatically shrink the .pst file when you archive
data. For example, if you archived out 100 MB of email from a 500 MB
Outlook.pst file, the Outlook.pst file will not shrink to 400 MB until
you compact the .pst file. This process may take between 5 and 30
minutes to complete, depending on the size of your Outlook.pst file.
To compact your .pst file:
 Click on the File menu,
then click Data File Management....
Select the Personal
Folders (not Personal Folder Archive) and
then click the Settings... button.
Click the Compact
Now button
to compact the mailbox.
Once Outlook finishes compacting, you're done!
Option # 2 : Using
Outlook's AutoArchive wizard
To start the AutoArchive wizard:
 Click
the File menu and select Archive....
Select the folders you wish
to archive, then select a date for which old items should be archived.
All email older than this date will be archived.
If you wish to have the
AutoArchive wizard
archive all folders in the Personal Folder
File, click Personal Folders and make sure
the option to Archive
this folder and all subfolders is
selected.
Click OK to archive your selected folders and subfolders.
The archive process may
take as long as 30 minutes. Please refrain from using Outlook while
the archive is in progress. You can monitor the archive status in
the lower right corner of the screen (i.e., "Archiving Deleted Items
to D:\Documents and Settings...").
Compacting
Once you have moved all of the email folders and messages that
you wish to archive, you need to "Compact" your main .pst file. This
step is important, as Outlook does not automatically shrink the
.pst file when you archive data. For example, if you archived out 100 MB
of email from a 500 MB Outlook.pst file, the Outlook.pst file will not
shrink to 400 MB until you compact the .pst file. This process may take
between 5 and 30 minutes to complete, depending on the size of your Outlook.pst
file. To compact your .pst file:
Click
on the File menu, then click Data File Management....
Select the Personal
Folders (not Personal Folder Archive)
and then click the Settings... button.
Click the Compact
Now button to compact the mailbox.
Once Outlook finishes compacting, you're done!
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