Reducing Outlook PST File Size

The present review of Split PST software application, developed by MS Outlook Tools Software gives a detailed description of its working, functionality, features, basic system requirements, etc. The very name of the tool has been devised from its working functionality and it is easily understood that the utility has been manufactured to divide Outlook PST file. Personal Storage Table, popularly known as PST, is the repository file of Outlook mail program that stores all data items such as emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, etc.

Therefore, after usage of the desktop mail client for a prolonged period of time the PST file becomes bulky in size with the number of items stored within it and leads to corruption issues in the.PST file. In such scenarios the use of PST split software becomes highly beneficial as it has the capability to divide the PST file in four different ways i.e. Split by Size, Split by Year, Split by Date and Split by Folder.

System Requirements to Make Use of the Tool

The size of the software is just 5.4 MB and hence does not require much space of the hard drive. The free space required in the hard disk of the system is only 10 Mega Bytes. Moreover, only 1 GHz processor and 512 Mega Bytes of Random Access Memory is required. However, 2.4 GHz is recommended in the case of former and 1 GB in the latter’s case. The tool can be used on any version of Windows operating system be it the latest release 8.1 or any earlier versions like 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2008, 2003 and 2000.

However, when Windows 8.1, 8, 7 or Vista is the OS, then the Split PST should be launched as ‘Run as Administrator’ which is not a big deal. The other requirement is that Outlook should be installed and configured properly for any legitimate or dummy account, but care should be taken that Outlook is not configured with Exchange Server. Last but not the least to mention is that the tool does not impose any restriction on the version of Outlook used.

Comment - Based on the tool’s system requirements it can be concluded that the requirements is minimum that is easily available on any PC.

Chief Functionality of the Tool – Divide PST File

The most significant feature of the software application is that it has the ability to divide a large sized Outlook PST file into smaller components with ease. This is because the interface of the utility is self explanatory and users just need to perform simple operations like they need to click some tabs a few times, browse files, etc. The process to split .pst files can be proceeded by clicking on the tab ‘Split’ as shown with red color box in the figure of the tool’s interface pasted below.

Tool’s Four Significant Features

In addition to several amenities, the four main functions that the application delivers are shown by means of the image below and are also explained in this section.

1. Split By Size – On choosing this option, the PST files can be divided in multiple parts but with a fixed size for all divided PSTs. However, a particular size shall have to be specified by the user and the size can vary anywhere from 5MB to 10 GB.
2. Split By Folder – When this option is selected, number of Outlook data files can be created with one PST file according to folders such as Inbox.pst, Contacts.pst, Outbox.pst, etc. Moreover, size of the divided PSTs can also be specified by the user to reduce the size of files.
3. Split By Date – In this case, a specific date can be can be selected by the user to divide the PST file by date. On doing so two PST files get created; one with the data items of the particular specified date as well as previous dates. Whereas the other PST file gets formed with the data of dates stored after the specified date.
4. Split By Year – With this feature, data items of a PST file can be separated in two parts based on year. To use this option, a particular year has to be specified by user and the tool in turn shall create two Personal Folders. One shall store data of ‘the particular specified year and also of previous years’ whereas the other shall contain data belonging to years later than the specified year. Also, Outlook PST file can be split by the present ongoing year 2014 as well as upcoming year 2015.

Comment – Whichever service out of the four may be chosen, the main task of Split Outlook PST File gets accomplished and also the size of the file reduces in all the cases because by default, only one PST file is created in Outlook that stores all data items. On dividing the default created Outlook data file either by any fixed size, folder, year or date; the size reduces automatically.

Other Functionalities of the Tool

1. Supports both UNICODE as well as ANSI PST files. It does not make any kind of discrimination in dividing the Outlook data file based on type of file.
2. Promises no data loss and maintains Meta properties and formatting of each data item unharmed.
3. Renders choice to select Outlook format. On specifying the version of Outlook, the tool automatically detects the type of PST file.
4. Generates log report as CSV file to compare PST file. The status report includes fields like: Folder Name, Folder path, Number of items in source file, etc.
5. Provides option to save divided PST file anywhere on the system. Also, if wanted the tool renders choice to even create a new folder.

Final Words

At last, it can be concluded that the tool is rich in its characteristics and possesses all key features that helps user to easily divide the Outlook data files without any drawback. As such the software does not own any shortcoming and can certainly be rated 9.5 on a scale of 10.