If you are using Outlook to store all your information such as mail messages, contacts, appointment details, tasks, task requests, journal entries, notes and so on, it is not surprising that the Personal Folders file or PST file used to store all this data keeps growing in size. If you do not pay regular attention to trimming the size of this file, it may soon grow up to and beyond the allowed size of 2 GB. Of course, 2 GB is the maximum allowed size limit and you could start facing performance issues or error messages long before that, prompting a pst recovery. It is therefore best that you look at ways in which you can keep this PST file at a manageable and stable size.

The first step would be to know to understand what the current size of your PST file is. For this, from the Folder view in Outlook, you can go to Personal Folder and then click on Properties. You will see the current size of your PST file mentioned here. Whenever you notice performance problems with Outlook, quickly note what the size of the PST file is; this will not only help you to take immediate steps as far as reducing the size of the file is concerned but will help you take preventive action in future by not allowing the file to grow to a size where it starts affecting the performance or where you are required to go in for pst recovery.

Here are some simple steps that you could take to reduce the size of the PST file.

" Remember to empty the Deleted Items Folder regularly. You could always set up the automatic option if you are confident that you do not ever accidentally trash any item!
" You should regularly go through all the items stored in the Inbox and Sent Items folder. Clear all those that are not needed and move the rest into appropriate folders.
" If some folders are really large in size, you might want to look at items that are a few years old and consider getting rid of them. For example, Junk Mail is one such folder that is going to grow very large, very soon and you are extremely unlikely to ever need any item in that folder. Take steps to clear such folders.
" If despite taking all these steps, your PST file is still very large, you might want to create a new Personal Folders file and move data year-wise into it. This way, you have organized all the Outlook data while also reducing the size of the PST file.
" After having taken all these steps, you should now compact the main PST file that you will be working with so that all the empty space that has been generated by deletion and moving around of items can be made efficient use of.

If your PST files have unfortunately become so large that you fear they are damaged, you can use tools designed for exactly such purposes. Advanced Outlook Repair from DataNumen specializes in pst recovery and handles files as large as a few terabytes ensuring that you do not lose any data no matter how large your damaged PST file is.