Outlook PST File Fix and Repair » PST Files

Size Limits of PST Files

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:59:46 +0000

All PST files do have a size limit and have improved since the early days of Outlook.

Here is a small table showing the size limits of the different versions of outlook;

Version of Outlook	Size Limit	Size Limit
Outlook 97	2GB	Cannot be increased
Outlook 98	2GB	Cannot be increased
Outlook 2000	2GB	Cannot be increased
Outlook 2002	2GB	Cannot be increased
Outlook 2003	20GB	Not recommended to increase the limit
Outlook 2007	20GB	Not recommended to increase the limit

Maximum Size of a PST File in Outlook – More Details Here

Versions of PST Files

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:35:37 +0000

Here is a description of the PST files from both Outlook 97 and Outlook 2003;

Outlook 97

Starting with Microsoft Outlook 97 the Personal Storage Table file is encoded in ANSI format. It has a maximum file size of 2 GB. If the file exceeds this size it will become corrupted. This format is supported by Microsoft Outlook 97, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002, and Outlook 2003 Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) accounts and HTTP accounts.

Outlook 2003

Starting with Outlook 2003 the Personal Storage file is encoded in unicode format. It allows a user-definable maximum file size up to 33TB that exceeds the previous limit of 2GB. This format is supported by Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. A file that is created in the personal folders format in Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 is not compatible with earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook and cannot be opened by using those older versions.

What is the Size Limit of a PST File

admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:40:02 +0000

All Outlook versions use PST files to store emails, contacts, calendar data and more. There are two kinds of PST files, however. Outlook 2003 and later use a PST file format capable of storing Unicode (a standard that can represent most alphabets on computers) data that has no theoretical size limit but a practical limit of 20 GB.

Outlook versions before that (97 to 2002) use a PST file format restricted to U.S. English (foreign-language characters need to be encoded in that format) that has a hard-wired limit of 2 GB.
Outlook PST File Size Limits

Here, again, are the two formats, their limits and typical use:

Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (PST)

Used by:
- Outlook 97, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002
- IMAP and Windows Live Hotmail accounts in Outlook 2003
- Outlook 2007 if explicitly chosen
Size limit:
- 2 GB
- Cannot be increased

Outlook 2003-2007 Personal Folders File (PST)

Used by:
- Outlook 2003 (with the exceptions above)
- Outlook 2007
Size limit:
- Configurable; 20 GB by default
- For performance and stability reasons, it is not recommended to increase the limit beyond 20 GB.

As your PST file approaches the limit or suggested maximum size (check the size via the Total size given in the Folder Size dialog), you can move old messages to a separate archive PST file — or delete them, of course.

What is a PST File

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:13:46 +0000

A PST file (Personal Storage Table) is a filename extension associated with Personal Folders files used with certain Microsoft products. Personal Folders (.pst) files are used to store local copies of messages, calendar events, and other items within Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Client, Windows Messaging, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Outlook Express.

Versions of a PST file

Outlook 97

Starting with Microsoft Outlook 97 the Personal Storage file is encoded in ANSI format. It has a maximum file size of 2 GB. If the file exceeds this size it will become corrupted. This format is supported by Microsoft Outlook 97, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002, and Outlook 2003 Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) accounts and HTTP accounts.

Outlook 2003