Archive.pst Has Reached Its Maximum Size: Achieving Data Management

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Published By Jamie Kaler
Rollins Duke
Approved By Rollins Duke
Published On June 8th, 2022
Reading Time 3 Minutes Reading
Category MS Outlook

archive.pst has reached its maximum size limit

Outlook has always had issues relating to its data file size. This is encountered depending on the version of the application being used. Versions until 2003 were considered the older ones that created ANSI type PST file which came with a storage limit of 2 GB only. Versions later on extended the limit with each update ranging from 20 GB to 50 GB and extendable and file type generated by the latest versions is known as Unicode type PST. The archive is no different from a PST that represents a user profile, therefore; the same concept is applicable on the archive PST files too. This encounters users with conditions where they receive messages stating ‘archive.pst has reached its maximum size’. The following segment is dedicated to discussing the same issue along with possible and applicable solutions.

Resolving an Oversizing Archive.pst File

As discussed above, archives are not different from a normal profile depicting PST file. Therefore, it surfaces the same storage limits as that of the data file. Outlook keeps stacking up data from a user account into the defined archive PST both in manual and automatic archiving. This results in overloading the archive PST.

Following are three workarounds that can be implemented to troubleshoot the overloading issue.

Method 1 – Compact PST

In order to deal with a storage issue, the first and foremost approach is to get rid of the data that you no longer require. This not only reduces the storage but also maintains the archive in an organized manner, keeping only the necessary data.

For this, you can open the archive PST, select the items, delete them, and then clear the Deleted Items folder to eliminate them permanently.

TIP: You can also go for a ‘Compact PST’ process in order to overwrite the space left behind by items you just deleted.

Method 2 – Create Unicode PST

Create an archive in Unicode type PST file. For this, disconnect the existing archive from your profile by following the given steps.

  1. Go to Data File Management. Click on the File tab, go to Account Settings, click on Account Settings and select Data Files tab.
  2. Click on Open File location to open the folder path on Windows Explorer
  3. Choose the file and click on Remove
  4. Quit Outlook after closing the dialog box(s) open on the screen
  5. Go back to the location of the archive and rename it with a different name than archive.pst

When archiving is performed the next time, a new file with the name of archive.pst will be created automatically of Unicode type leaving the previous archive untouched this time.

NOTE: You can still access the contents of the older archive by reconnecting it using Open file option.

Method 3 – Automatic Solution

Combining the archive to a newly created master archive will be helpful too. You cannot perform this merge process directly but there is an applicable workaround. Create a new PST file to act as the master archive and copy the contents of the archive to the master file. This way the contents remain on the safer side in case anything goes wrong during the merging procedure.

You can also choose an automated way to merge multiple PST files into a single one:

Conclusion

The segment discusses the methods that can be implemented for managing the storage of an archive. Being a data file, the size will always remain an issue for Outlook users. However, the best part is the problem can be worked out with the mere implementation of the suggested methods.