Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email clients with many intelligent and beneficial features. However, there is one massive drawback of Microsoft Outlook. People don’t think of it as only an email client, but much more than that. Apart from the email services, Microsoft Outlook will offer you other features such as task manager, calendar, contact manager, web browsing, journal, note-taking, etc. Outlook develops one type of outlook data file, known as the PST. The PST or personal storage table stores all the content of the mailbox, which includes the email and attachments, calendars, contacts, and many more. However, the only drawback of Microsoft Outlook is that it’s incredibly vulnerable to corruption and other damages. PST file size limit is one of the most common causes of Outlook corruption.
Issues about the PST File Size Limit
To save a PST file on the system, Microsoft Outlook uses two different formats: Unicode and ANSI. These file formats come in different sizes. Microsoft Outlook created the ANSI PST file in 2002 with a size limit of 2GB. This means that the size of the mailbox content won’t exceed 2GB for the ANSI PST file. On the other hand, the Unicode PST file was created by Outlook 2003. The maximum size of the Unicode PST file is either 20GB or 50GB. If your system has Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2003, the PST file size can reach up to 20GB. In Other and modern versions of Microsoft Outlook, the maximum file size limit of the PST is 50GB. However, sometimes this size limit causes problems for the users.
It doesn’t matter if you use Unicode or ANSI; if the PST file size reaches its limit, the users will experience severe issues regarding the performance of Outlook. While accessing or opening large PST files, the client of Outlook will either freeze or crash. Not to mention, when the PST file reaches its limit, it will cause outlook corruption. However, the Unicode PST file is less prone to corruption.
How to Prevent Corruption?
Some users say that Outlook corruption is inevitable. Even though they think nothing can be done to prevent corruption problems, this is not true. Numerous steps will help you prevent Microsoft Outlook from corrupting. Here are the top 4 ways to avoid Outlook corruption.
Make Sure the PST File Is Not Oversized
Since the PST files become much more vulnerable to crashes and corruption due to the size limitation issues, make sure the file is not oversized. This is one of the best ways to prevent outlook corruption. If your system runs an older version of Microsoft Outlook, make sure the PST file size doesn’t exceed 1.5GB. Additionally, if your system runs Outlook 2010 or 2007, you need to ensure that the size of the PST file is lesser than 10GB. This size limitation problem isn’t severe in the modern versions of Outlook. If you want to manage the mailbox size of Outlook, you can compact the PST file while removing the duplicate items. This way, you can save space.
Don’t Save the PST Files on Network Drives or Servers
Make sure you save the PST file only on your computer system. Many users save the PST file on their cloud servers and end up corrupting Microsoft outlook. Since the virtual network environment is not capable of supporting the massive access of the PST files, make sure you don’t save the files on a remote drive or server. Doing this will undoubtedly cause frequent corruption in the PST files. Additionally, when multiple users access the same PST file simultaneously through different networks, it can also severely damage the files. Therefore, it’s advised not to do that.
Don’t Process a Massive Number of Emails Simultaneously
Even though you can process 10,000 emails simultaneously, processing more than that will undoubtedly impact the Outlook and the PST file. While processing a large chunk of email continuously, the client of Microsoft Outlook will face a lockdown. In such a situation, you have to close Microsoft Outlook forcefully. This will cause PST file corruption.
Turn Off the Computer Properly
The way you turn off your computer will determine the frequency of corruption of the Microsoft Outlook and PST files. If you turn off the computer forcefully or improperly, it might cause serious problems. Sudden power discharge is one of the most common reasons behind the forceful shutdown of the systems. For instance, if you’re working on Outlook and the computer shuts down abruptly due to power failure, Outlook might face corruption. One of the best ways to avoid this problem is using a UPS. As per Tdk, UPS can help you prevent data loss. However, keep in mind that this problem is only for desktop users as laptop users don’t need to rely on a power supply all the time.
Conclusion
These are the top 4 great ways to prevent outlook corruption. What are your thoughts? Make sure you let us know.