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Paul, I can suggest two things that may help for future reference:
1. Use an Outlook attachment remover to periodically clean up your e-mail and control your file size. There are a couple of free ones out there that I've used successfully. Let us know if you need details.
2. I've long made it a practice to create a fresh new PST file at the beginning of each new year. At my present location, for instance, I have four Archive folders -- the current Archive Folders (for your monthly or so archives), and Achive 2006, Archive 2007, and Archive 2008. These folders range from 1.5 GB to 3 GB each, back up easily, and co-exist with no issues.
An old, but still good, article on this issue comes from Woody's Office Watch, http://office-watch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v5-n42. Check out Item 4, "Outlook Bloat". Woody describes the steps to new PST files. He creates a new one about every six months.
HTH,
Jim
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Marguerite Krupp
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 10:46 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; jopakent
Subject: Re: Outlook hosed, pondering next step
Before you do anything else, if you can locate your .pst file, download it to another device, say, a flash drive. Then you have a shot at rebuilding your files, even if Outlook 2007 eats your old data.
From: jopakent <jopakent -at- comcast -dot- net>
Subject: Outlook hosed, pondering next step
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Friday, September 4, 2009, 11:24 AM
(Office 2003, Win XP Pro)
I've been accumulating history in my Outlook folders for several years now.
Sent mail, Project Folders, even deleted mail has all been gradually expanding over time.
So if a client (or an ex-wife) has a question about a communication we had back in 06, I've been able to quickly bring the email up for reference. I'm concerned right now because Outlook seems locked up. Every time I try to delete anything or send anything, I get an error message something along the lines of
"There was a problem in the messaging service, if this problem persists, please restart Outlook."
I've tried restarting both Outlook and the computer, but the symptom persists.
One solution I have in mind is to finally pull the trigger on Office 2007.
I've got a copy all ready to install and now that vacations are done and I've got my freezer full of humpies, I'll probably have time to do it this weekend. My concern is that I don't want to loose all of that history. I'm afraid that my existing file (*.PST?) is hosed and that when I do the install, Outlook will either ignore it, or make a hash out of it.
The only other thot I have right now is a vague recollection of a "repair"
tool that I think is a menu option somewhere. I'll try that tonight and see if there is any joy. Any other ideas, please respond directly as I am on digest.
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com -dot-
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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