Summary: MS Outlook is one of the most advanced applications available for Mac and Windows users. Outlook for Windows supports ANSI and Unicode PST files. You can protect these files with a password. Once you protect a PST file with a password, it requires you to enter the password to open the file. If you want to compress a protected PST file, you can do this with the help of a third-party app or manual solutions.
MS Outlook’s ANSI PST files can be of 2GB. The Unicode version is of 50 GB. A large PST file can influence your system’s performance and the speed of Outlook. Therefore, it is necessary to compress a PST file size.
Reasons Why Compress a PST Files
Here we have outlined reasons to resize a PST file.
- Over time, PST files become large and use a significant amount of disk space on your system. By reducing a PST file size, you can free up valuable disk space.
- A large PST file can influence the performance of Outlook. You may experience that Outlook is hanged or become very slow, especially when opening or saving messages. Hence, compressing can improve the function of your Outlook account.
- A compress and reduce PST file is easy to backup to a new computer or transfer data. You can save time in backing up the data.
- Ultimately, we all know that a large PST file can corrupt and becomes inaccessible. Therefore, compressing a PST file is one of the best ideas.
You have two ways to compress a PST file size. One is manual solutions and another is a third-part utility.
Manual Solutions to Compress Password Protected Outlook PST Files
There are manual solutions to resize a PST file.
Archive old items
Do you know you can archive a PST file data? In this solution, remove all old items that you don’t open or you think that you don’t need them. Below are the steps to follow-
- Right-clicking on the items you want to archive
- Select “Move and then Other Folder” or “Archive“.
You can setup of automatic archive schedule. For this navigate the “File menu, then Options > Advanced > AutoArchive Settings”.
Free Up Deleted Items from the Deleted Folder
As you delete an item from a PST file, it goes to the Deleted Folder in your PST. If you want to delete them forever, you can delete them in the Deleted Folder. For this, choose the items in the Deleted Folder and right click to select “Empty Folder”.
Taking Help of an In-Built Tool
Outlook has a built-in feature to reduce the size of a PST file. For this,
- Navigate the “File menu
- Then Account Settings > Account Settings”
- Hit the “Data Files” tab
- Choose the desired PST file.
- After that hit “Settings” and then “Compact Now”
Transfer Large Attachments
If you think that some large attachments of a PST file are not necessary for you, delete them. Select the attachments and right-click on them to select “Remove Attachment”.
Note: The above methods can cause data loss. Therefore, we recommend to back up the files first.
Automated Solutions to Compress ANSI & Unicode Outlook PST Files
You can use Pcinfotools Compress Outlook PST File Tool to compress a PST file data without losing the file quality. The utility can reduce the size of both ANSI and Unicode PST files. It is an advanced application. It doesn’t requires installation of MS Outlook to compress a PST file.
It offers compress of PST Files in four different ways:
- Remove all attachments
- Remove and save all attachments
- Compress attachments
- Don’t remove attachments
When you practically try the application, you can familiar with its functions.
Steps to Run the Program
- After launching the app upload PST files
- Provide the password of protected PST files
- Specify the destination location to save resultants
- Choose a suitable option to shrink the size
- Hit the final tab to complete the process
Final Words
It is one of the best applications to resize a PST file without losing the file quality. You can resize as many PST files as you desire because it supports bulk data compress feature.