How to Compress or Shrink my Large-size PST Files Used by Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft Outlook is a very popular program from Microsoft Office and is used as a personal information manager worldwide. MS Outlook stores its data in a PST (Personal Storage Table) file. However, over time PST files become very large and after years of usage, they become huge, i.e., oversized. Oversized PST files start to develop many more complications despite their robust format. These complications are as follows:

• Slow performance of MS Outlook as it needs to parse huge PST files.
• Chances of becoming corrupt due to any reasons. It can be a small disk failure, network issues, or the use of any malfunctioning software or virus.
• Large PSTs are difficult to back up and restore.
• Also, Outlook may take longer to access, send, or receive mail.
• Moreover, users may suffer from synchronization issues with online mail services like Microsoft Exchange.

An urgent need to compress the size of the MS Outlook PST file arises generally for two reasons. First to avoid losing all the crucial data and second to save time and money. Thus, you can easily understand why is it necessary to reduce PST file size. Further, there are different ways in which you can compress large PSTs. These are explained below.

Way 1: Using Built-in Compact Feature

1. Start MS Outlook. Go to the File tab and click Info.
2. Then, click the Account Settings tab and choose Account Settings.
3. In the open dialog box, navigate to the Data Files tab.
4. Select the (.pst) that you want to compact and click Settings > Compact Now.

Way 2: Archive PST to reduce Oversized PST

1. Click the File tab in MS Outlook.
2. Then, select Tools from the Info tab and click Clean up Old Items.
3. An Archive dialog box opens. Here, choose the PST file/folder to archive.
4. Afterward, specify a date for large PST files and a destination to save.
5. Finally, click OK to complete archiving files.

Way 3: Using an Expert-Recommended Professional Tool

The above two ways are easy but require technical knowledge. Moreover, there is no guaranteed security. Instead, using the SysInfo PST Compress and Compact Tool can ease your task. It has numerous advanced features and completes the task within seconds without affecting the originality of the data. Moreover, your attachments aren’t affected too. It allows to compress multiple PST files at once and more. The steps to use it and compress or shrink large PST file are:

1. Firstly, install and run the tool as administrator.
2. Upload your PST files to compress. Preview and select PSTs and click Next.
3. Apply filters and specify a path to save. At last, click Start Compression.

With this, you have completed methods to compress or shrink large-size PST files. However, if these files are corrupted, it could be a problem. So, to avoid this problem and repair your files quickly if they are damaged, corrupted, or inaccessible. Simply, use the SysInfo PST File Recovery Tool. It will resolve your issue in just no time and grant access to your PST data.