Microsoft Outlook data is stored in the personal folders file that ends with the PST extension. This includes items like emails, alerts, to-do lists, tasks, journals, notes, contacts and so on. Each Outlook profile can be associated with one or more PST files and obviously contains almost all the data that one stores in the various Outlook folders. It therefore goes without saying that protecting this data is crucial since it contains confidential, personal and perhaps financial information. Simple errors in the PST file can be fixed by using the Inbox Repair Tool but there are times when it fails to carry out an outlook recovery merely because of the size of the PST file.
For many users who have just started using Outlook, it may come as a surprise that the size of the PST file could cause damage to the PST file while regular users may have already come across situations where their PST files may have become corrupted and they may not have realized what it was due to. Users should bear in mind that Outlook versions before Outlook 2003, had a size limit of 2 GB for the PST files and if the file exceeded this size limit, it could instantly lead to a corruption in the PST file. Since the Inbox Repair Tool fails to work on such large files, many users may have believed that the PST file was beyond outlook recovery and simply created a new personal folders file.
Of course, recently some versions of Outlook do allow for the PST file size to grow up to 20 GB and though the danger of the PST file getting damaged as a result of it exceeding the size limit may be less imminent, it is nevertheless important that we constantly optimize our PST file. A large PST file invariably means that Outlook will take a longer time to start up as well to switch folders or view mail folders. It will also take longer to respond to other commands. In fact, as the PST file grows larger in size, you will notice a gradual degradation in the performance of Outlook. The application may even stop responding for some time.