AboutJim Stiles Expertise I am a Certified Internet Web master and designer with twelve years experience in creating, developing and maintaining both personal and corporate web sites. I have an extensive working knowledge of HTML, DHTML and JavaScript. While I specialize in DHTML and JavaScript functions, my main topic is assisting persons and businesses with the overall development and outlay of their web sites. I also have 18 years of experience in Law Enforcement and Corrections. I have an extensive knowledge of all Microsoft Office applications, all Windows Operating systems, Eudora and Outlook email programs as well as Microsoft Exchange server 5.5 and Outlook Web Access. I am also certified in Video Teleconferencing and network systems.
Experience I have many various certifications from Microsoft as well as individual course studies in web site development, advanced database development, Cisco ISDN, LAN and WAN technologies. I have developed and currently maintain four personal and three corporate web sites. I currently hold the position of Network Adminstrator for the Information Services Division at my local Sheriffs Office.
Question Hi Jim.
One of my user at work is currently using outlook 2000. This has a PST size limit of 2GB. I need the benefit of the 20GB size that is provided by Outlook 2003. My question is, if i uninstall 2000 and install 2003, will i be able to open her existing PST file? If so, how do i convert it to the new 2003 format PST file? I dont want her to have multiple PST's, so i would like to import her current mail, and then have outlook 2003 continue adding to that file as normal? Is this possible. Also, couls you confirm that i am correct in saying Outlook 2003 has a 20GB limit, and if it does, does it allow you to use that full capacity by default, or do i have to configure it. Thank you.
Answer Unfortunately, upgrading to Outlook 2003 does not automatically make it possible to add more data to a pre-Outlook 2003 .PST file.
If you have an existing .PST file from an earlier version of Microsoft Outlook that is approaching or has already hit the 2 GB limit, you cannot "fix" it by simply installing Microsoft Outlook 2003, attaching the .PST file, and copying data into it.
Microsoft Outlook 2003 allows for .PST files of up to 20 GB, because the .PST file format it uses is different than earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook. For one, it allows native Unicode storage, whereas older versions of Microsoft Outlook do not.
If you've upgraded your email clients to Outlook 2003, the best thing to do is create an entirely new .PST file in Outlook 2003 using the new file format; then migrate the data from the old .PST into it. The new file-size limit presents virtually no storage issues.
Simply upgrading to Outlook 2003 will not solve the problem. You have to set aside the time and resources to actually migrate data from the old .PST format entirely.
There is a utility called Upstart that converts .PST files to and from a number of different internal formats, and can also merge multiple .PST files into a single .PST. You can find the utility at the below address:
Note that if the original file is larger than 2 GB or close to that size, and cannot be mounted, you may need to run Microsoft's Oversized PST Crop Tool to make the file readable again.
