Outlook 2003 Exported Calendar.pst file size

[hlewton]

When I make changes to Outlook’s calendar I export it and then import that calendar file onto other computers so that my calendar is up to date on those computers. I am not adding much just an appointment or 2 before exporting the Calendar folder. Yesterday when I did this I noticed that the Calendar.pst file size grew from approximately 9000 Kb to over 37,000 Kb. This makes the Calendar.pst file bigger than the entire Outlook.pst which, if I’m not mistaken includes all the personal folders in Outlook and also includes the Contact and Calendar folder. So I ran an Outlook addin called Outlook Duplicate Item Remover to eliminate duplicate Calendar entries thinking that may be the cause of the inflated Calendar.pst file then exported it again and it was even larger over 39,000 Kb. Any ideas why this would be happening and any solution to shrink it back down to near the 9000 Kb size I think it should be?

Thanks.

[HansV]

A .pst file is in fact a database; databases often exhibit a tendency to become bloated.
Try the following:
- Select File | Data File Management.
- Select the appropriate personal folders file.
- Click Settings...
- In the General tab, click Compact Now.
- Click OK, then Close.

[hlewton]

Hans I do that all the time but I only see a file called Outlook.pst that I can compact which I did try yesterday before exporting the Calendar.pst file again. I will give it another try but at least once a week I delete all the sent items, received items, empty the Deleted Items folder and compact the Outlook.pst file. I think you told me in another thread that I could not choose an individual folder to compact so if I am understanding you correctly I believe I am already doing what you have suggested above. If I am misunderstanding you please let me know. Thanks.

[hlewton]

I just compacted the Personal folder called Outlook.pst it is now 27793 Kb and the Calendar.pst file grew again and now is 41681 Kb.

[HansV]

Did you compact Calendar.pst and as a result it grew to 41681 KB?

[hlewton]

I don't see a way to compact just Calendar.pst. I compacted Outlook.pst which seems to be the only personal folder option I have when it comes to compacting. Then I exported the Calendar.pst again.

When you say select the appropriate personal folders file I am not sure exactly how to do what you are saying. If I follow these steps:
- Select File | Data File Management.
- Select the appropriate personal folders file.
- Click Settings...
- In the General tab, click Compact Now.
- Click OK, then Close.

After I click on Data File Management if I then click on the "Open Folder" button I can see the Calendar.pst file in a Windows Explorer window. If I then click on it, it asks me what I want to open it with. That is the point where I quit. Should I continue from there and if so how? Thanks

[HansV]

The Open Folder button is intended to view the location of .pst files that you already use, NOT to open .pst files.

Instead, select File | Open | Outlook Data File... from within the main Outlook window.
You should now be able to open Calendar.pst, and then to compact it.

[hlewton]

OK I did that, then exported it again and now it has grown to 45,649 Kb. That doesn't sound right does it? Do you suppose if I try deleting old calendar entries, then compacting it again it would do any good?

Thanks

[hlewton]

I just compacted the Calendar.pst file again but did not export it. I then checked the size of it and it compacted it down a little to 43,665 Kb.

[HansV]

That's not much - I wonder what causes this...

[hlewton]

Yeah, I agree but have no idea how to find out.

[hlewton]

Things like this really bug me so I have tried to do Google searches to find out reasons why this file would be growing and have had no luck. However, I did discover a couple things that are probably the reasons this file is growing but I have no idea what is causing them or what to do to correct them. I will list what I have seen and maybe some suggestions will surface.

I just imported the Calendar.pst file onto another computer and noticed that during the import process before the calendar was imported it imported at least 20 occurrences of “Deleted Items." While it has always imported “Deleted Items” ahead of importing the Calendar it has never been this many occurrences of these “Deleted Items.” So the first questions that come to my mind is what is causing this and how can I eliminate the “Deleted Items” from being part of the “Calendar.pst” file when it is created?

The next thing I noticed this time was that after the Calendar.pst file had been imported onto this other computer there were 7 incidences of an appointment I have next Thursday that showed up in my Outlook Today view. I was able to get rid of all but 1 incident by running Outlook Duplicate Item Remover but why would this be happening? If when I am creating the Calendar.pst file on my original computer it is creating duplicate items of all my appointments, as it appears to be doing, this, I believe, would certainly cause the Calendar.pst file to grow as I am seeing it doing. I am not entering duplicate appointments but somehow they are being created when I export the calendar folder. What can I do to make this stop and only export the calendar with 1 appointment for each calendar entry?

Thanks.

[HansV]

Are you exporting to the existing Calendar.pst, or are you creating a new one each time? If you export to an already existing file, you may be creating duplicates of items.

[hlewton]

I only have 1 Calendar folder. When I add a future appointment I want to be reminded of it no matter which computer I am using so I have been exporting that calendar folder and assuming it was creating a Calendar.pst file that would be the same as the calendar folder I just edited by adding those new appointments. So I am not sure how to answer your question. I believe I am creating a new Calendar.pst file because their is only 1 Calendar.pst file in the location I exported it to but it is just replacing the existing one as far as I know. I cannot remember if I am asked to replace the existing one as I am exporting but, as I said, I only end up with 1 file. Since I only have 1 incident of the appointment I mentioned in the last post it makes no sense that it would create duplicate incidents.

I hope I have answered your question but I only know this one way to do it. If there is a different way that would avoid creating duplicate appointments I sure have no idea what it would be.

[HansV]

What happens if you delete the existing Calendar.pst before exporting?

[hlewton]

OK this is becoming more and more confusing all the time. I had to close Outlook before I could delete the Outlook.pst file. Then when I reopened Outlook and tried to export the calendar folder to a pst file it would not allow me to do it saying it could not find the Calendar.pst file. Why would it not create a new one?

[hlewton]

OK I did a little experimenting. I deleted the Calendar.pst file, opened Outlook, closed it and somehow allowed it to recreate another Calendar.pst file when it could not find the original one as it was trying to close. I then opened Outlook again, exported the calendar folder and created a new Calendar.pst file using the Export method and it is now only 3489 Kb in size. All my calendar entries are still there so I guess to keep a small Calendar.pst file I will have to occasionally delete to old one.

[HansV]

That sounds like a good idea.

[hlewton]

I just had another thought or I should say question come to mind. When I allowed Outlook to create a new calendar.pst file as I was exiting it the one it created was only about 286 Kb. Do you suppose that Calendar.pst file would have contained all my calendar entries and that I could have used it on other machines and not had to do an export which created a Calendar.pst file of a much larger size?

On a related note I took that 3489 Kb size file, imported it on a computer and it imported the calendar immediately without importing any of the deleted items that I mentioned before. Also it did not create 7 incidents of my upcoming appointment. It did, however, add 1 more incident even though it is supposed to delete duplicates. That is no longer a problem though since I have that ODIR program. It quickly gets rid of duplicate items.

[HansV]

286 KB is *very* small - I'd check carefully whether that one contains any appointments.