{"id":4841,"date":"2018-03-14T06:23:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T06:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sysinfotools.com\/blog\/?p=4841"},"modified":"2025-01-09T09:08:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T09:08:52","slug":"handle-oversized-ost-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sysinfotools.com\/blog\/handle-oversized-ost-file\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Resolve or Handle an Oversized OST File?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Summary:-<\/strong> Microsoft Outlook users two types of Outlook data files: PST and OST. Just like a PST file, an OST file has a certain size limit. This means it can’t store more mailbox content than the size limit. And when it reaches the maximum size or crosses it, Outlook users are likely to confront severe issues. In this article, you’ll learn how to handle an oversized OST file to avoid unwanted situations like corruption. Along with that, explore the OST Recovery Tool<\/strong><\/a> to easily handle OST files.

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For an Outlook user, Outlook data file is very crucial, be it PST or OST. They both contain the valuable mailbox content of an Outlook user. And this is why they both hold the equal importance. PST<\/strong> is a personal storage table<\/em> while OST<\/strong> is an offline storage table<\/em>. Although both the files are associated with Microsoft Outlook client, they’re somewhere different from each other. An Outlook user ain’t familiar with an OST file until unless he\/she configures Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server. If the Outlook client is being used as a stand-alone application, it creates PST file on a local system to store the entire mailbox content. On the other hand, an OST file is created if you configure Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server.<\/p>\r\n

About OST (Offline Storage Table)<\/h3>\r\n

An OST file stores the copies of your mailbox content on the Exchange Server. You can work offline with an OST file when the Exchange Server connection ain’t available. And when the Exchange Server connection is reestablished, you can synchronize the changes made earlier. Although OST and PST files have different file structure and functionalities, they both share a few similarities as well. Both OST and PST files have a definite size limit:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Microsoft Outlook Version<\/strong><\/td>\r\nFile Size Limit<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Outlook 2002 and earlier versions<\/td>\r\n2 GB<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Outlook 2007<\/td>\r\n20 GB<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Outlook 2010 and later versions<\/td>\r\n50 GB<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As per the size limitation, the OST file should never cross its maximum size. Because if it does, it may lead to serious troubles. Outlook users often experience performance issues due to an oversized OST file.\u00a0And if you don’t fix it in a timely manner, you’re likely to face file corruption.<\/p>\r\n

How Do You Get an Oversized OST File?<\/h3>\r\n

You might be wondering how you get an oversized OST file. Well, the reason is pretty simple and logical. An OST file stores email messages along with their attachments, contacts, notes, calendars, public folders, and much more.\u00a0It’s quite obvious that you send and receive a number of email messages every day. Sometimes it may happen that the email messages you receive may contain heavy attachments. Sending and receiving a large number of email messages every day will definitely grow OST file size. And one day, it reaches its maximum size and starts creating troubles for Outlook users.<\/p>\r\n

Generally, most of the Outlook users delete the unwanted email messages and other mailbox content\u00a0to handle an\u00a0oversized OST file. But this\u00a0ain’t helpful. Because whatever you delete from the OST file, it goes to the Deleted Items folder. This means the mailbox content you delete is still present in the OST file.<\/p>\r\n

Also Read- Fix Outlook OST has Reached Maximum Size Error<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n

3 Things You Must Do to\u00a0Reduce Outlook OST File Size<\/h3>\r\n

Whenever you notice that the OST file is near its maximum size, you must take the following corrective measures:<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. First, delete all the unwanted mailbox content from the OST file permanently. If you have some important attachments, you can save them separately on your computer system. But don’t keep them in your OST file.<\/li>\r\n
  2. Also, don’t forget to empty the Deleted Items folder.<\/li>\r\n
  3. And keep using the Outlook’s Compact<\/strong> feature regularly to compress OST file size.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    The aforementioned measures are only helpful if the OST file is near its maximum size limit. But if the OST file has already crossed the size limitation, you must do something to protect your OST file from being corrupt.<\/p>\r\n

    How to Handle Oversized OST File?<\/h2>\r\n

    An oversized Outlook data file is always prone to corruption. If you have an oversized OST file, it’s likely to be corrupt at any time.\u00a0You can try a few things to reduce Outlook OST file size and avoid corruption\u00a0or other severe issues even if you have an oversized OST file.\u00a0I’m sharing some useful tricks below which you can use here:<\/p>\r\n