Wednesday, September 28, 2016

How to Split PST File into Multiple Smaller Parts Manually?

Posted by datarecoveryblogger
Microsoft Outlook is one the most popular email clients used by desktop users all around the world. It's not just an email client, it's more than that. Though it's commonly used as an email client application, but it provides various other features as well, such as: calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal, and web browsing. Outlook email client is also known as personal information manager provided by Microsoft in its well-known suite, Microsoft Office. Also, it's available as a separate application. You can't find anything wrong in Outlook client, except one thing. Though Outlook client provides you numerous features along with an excellent mailing environment, on the other hand, it has a major drawback. 

Outlook Data File - PST aka Personal Storage Table

If you're using Microsoft Outlook client, all your mailbox data which include email messages, contacts, calendars, notes, tasks, journals, appointments as well as attachments, are stored into an Outlook data file, called PST aka Personal Storage Table. If you've been using Outlook client since long, you must be aware of PST file size limitation. PST file has a definite size limit which means it can't store data more than its maximum size limit. There are two types of format used to save PST files: ANSI and Unicode

What is ANSI PST file? 
If you're using any older version of Outlook, such as; Outlook 2002 or earlier, the PST file is saved in ANSI format. ANSI is an old format which has maximum size limitation of 2 GB which means it can only store mailbox data up to 2 GB. 

What is Unicode PST file? 
If you're using any newer version of outlook, such as: Outlook 2003 or later including latest 2016, the PST file saved in Unicode format. Unicode is a new format which has maximum size limitation of 20 to 50 GB. 

Oversized PST Files Can Cause Severe Issues

If you're having an oversized PST file, be it in ANSI or Unicode format, it may cause severe issues which lead to file corruption. If a PST file is reached to its maximum size, users can experience performance issues in Outlook client. But if it crosses or goes beyond the size limitation, it becomes prone to corruption. You can lose all your important email messages, business contacts and other mailbox data due to corruption. Being an Outlook user, it's your responsibility to keep your PST files handy. You can do two things here in this situation: first you can compress PST file, and second you can split PST file into multiple smaller parts. Here in this blog post, I'll show few easy manual tricks to split PST file without requiring any paid software. 

Split PST File Manually 

Though most of the Outlook experts recommend professional tools for splitting PST files, but I always recommend manual tricks first. You can try any 3rd party PST Split software only if the manual tricks fail or don't work for you. The manual tricks don't require anything, but Outlook client. If you're having sound knowledge of Outlook, you can perform the manual tricks with ease. 

Microsoft Outlook client has few built-in features and functions which can be used to transfer mailbox data from one PST file to other file. You can perform the same task to move multiple mailbox folders from one PST file to other new PST files. I'll let you know how you can do that. But before that, you must know the features which you need to use here. Make sure you've backed up your original PST files before using any of the manual tricks shared below.  

Microsoft Outlook's Archive feature 

Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook client on your system, and then select PST file from which you want to move items. 
Step 2: On the Menu bar, click File tab > Info and click Clean Tools in options. 
Step 3: Now select Archive... in the list scrolled down. 
Step 4: On the Archive dialog box, check Archive this folder and all subfolders option. Then select the folder you want to move. Also, define a date in Archive items older than option. 
Step 5: Now in the same dialog box, click Browse to define a location where you want to save this new archive.pst file. 
Step 6: The selected location will be listed in the edit box. Click OK to start the actual process. 

Microsoft Outlooks' Import and Export feature 

Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook client on your system, but don't open the PST file. First you need to create a new PST file here. 
Step 2: Once a new PST file is created, click File tab on Menu bar. Then click Open > Import
Step 3: On Import and Export Wizard, choose Outlook data file (.pst) in the option and click Next to continue the process. 
Step 4: On Export Outlook Data File window, select the mailbox folder you want to export from. 
Step 5: Now click Browse and select the PST file into which you want to export the selected mailbox folder. 
Step 6: Before you can click Finish, you can select other options (optional). Click Finish to start the actual process. 

Microsoft Outlooks' Move to Folders feature 

Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook client on your system. 
Step 2: Create a new Outlook data file.pst
Step 3: Now expand the PST file from which you want to move/copy mailbox items. Select any mailbox folder in the navigation pane. 
Step 4: Click Move tab > Copy to Folder... in the options. 
Step 5: On Copy Items dialog box, select the new Outlook data file in the list into which you want to move/copy the selected mailbox folder. 
Step 6: Then click OK to start the actual process. 

PST Split Software - Professional Solution 

If you're looking for a professional solution that requires no technical expertise and enough time unlike manual tricks, you must try PST Split software. It can split PST file in different ways, such as: split PST file by file size, split PST file by date and split PST file by senders' email IDs. It supports PST files saved in both ANSI and Unicode formats. You must download its demo version for free evaluation.