Compact Outlook 2000 .PST file

I been searcing the net all over, only options of compacting the pst file I have seen so far are for outlook 2002 or better.

I have about 5 MB of email, and my PST is 127 MB curently.

Can it be done?

I had this problem, cause I was using Outlook 2000 then upgraded to XP now using Office 2003 Beta

No matter how many emails I deleted It stayed the same size


Try importing it

Just move it from it's default location and then use Outlook to import it

It cleaned it up for me, and halved the size

You can compact the folders from Outlook Express rather than Outlook.If you don't have a shortcut to Outlook Express you can make one: "%ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msimn.exe". Then, when it comes up, and assuming that it retains the Accounts from Outlook, on the Menu, Click on Folders, Folders, then Compact or Compact all folders.

Sorry, Click on Files, Folders, Compact or Compact all.

Thanks for re-activating my account Phillip
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For those who are curious about why there is such a discrepancy in PST sizes, I figured I would throw this in.

A PST is a database. Items are records within the database and there is an index that points to each item. When you empty the Deleted Items folder, Outlook doesn't actually delete the items, it just deletes the items' listings from the index. The item is still in the PST, but unrecoverable because Outlook has no idea where it is without the pointer in the index. The space the item takes up is called "whitespace".

When you Compact a PST, the item is finally removed permanently and the whitespace is recovered, often shrinking the PST by many megabytes. Once the PST has 20% "whitespace", Outlook begins compacting the PST. If the Deleted Items folder contained a lot of messages, Outlook may begin compacting the PST immediately and the items will be deleted forever within a few minutes.

DS3, why is it from your post I get the impression you have been asked several times to recover deleted email messages from Outlook?

a good impression adamvjackson

Back when we used OL 97/98/2000 as a POP email client, there were many a time when users needed to recovered deleted emails or getting at PSTs where they couldnt remember their password.

At the moment, I am not too fond of Exchange's brick level backups/restores. At least veritas plugins make backing up the IS relatively easy.

I found a way to do it!

Clunky but it works.

Go to make a new profile, choose the PST you want to compact. On this properties page it has a copact button, so compact it. Once its compacted, click cancel and do not make a new account.

Voila! Compacted in Outlook 2000!