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Outlook - "pst" file - problems - too big?

• This concerns Outlook 2000, running on Windows 2000. Lately, Outlook often does not open, or freezes after opening. (I also have Norton Security Professional, with Security protection, firewall, etc., usually ON, which maybe be relevant.) What could cause this problem? (No other problems on computer.) The "pst" file is currently over 800,000K in size, but I've seen on the Web that it can safely go up to 2 gig. Another issue, though, which may be connected: I have two main folders for e-mail, inside Outlook--which might be a source of trouble. ?? Explanation. Several months ago, after a system overhaul, Outlook was re-installed. Prior to that, in order to have e-mail files available in case of a crash, I had normally been "manually" backing up the "pst" file to a 2nd internal hard drive. (After drilling down into Outlook, I'd find the "pst" file & click-drag a copy onto the 2nd hard drive). So as part of re-installation, I manually restored the old "pst" file from the 2nd drive. When I opened Outlook, though, I saw two basic general folders within it. Normally there's one, call "Personal folders," which Outlook generates and which holds all the data: The Outlook-generated sub-folders (Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, etc.), and also any user-created sub-folders to sort mail. Now I saw TWO such general folders. One (call it #1, because it's the system-generated one) was the usual "Personal Folders", with active sub-folders as indicated above. The other (#2) was named "Brad's Personal Folders" (my first name, available through the system files), and held all my restored sub-folders containing e-mails. Folder #2 also still held a set of default sub-folders, which it had had before, but those were no longer active. That is, incoming mail did not come into the "Inbox" of general folder #2, but into the "Inbox" within the new general folder (#1). I wasn't sure this was a problem. I'm still not. However, it was a bit inconvenient. To sort incoming mail into the existing sub-folders (which I do a lot, to be able to find messages easily), I would move an e-mail from the active "inbox" in folder #1, to the proper sub-folder in folder #2. This required scrolling up. However, I wondered if Outlook would be confused by the existence of two such main folders, #1 and #2. I also thought that eventually I should try to have the system get back to one main folder. In fact, I?ve gradually moved all my user-created sub-folders from #2 into #1, in preparation for simplifying. But I don't know what to do next. In the meantime, as noted, Outlook is often now very hard to open. I often have to try 10 times, sometimes with re-booting. Once open, it runs fine. Help! E-mail is crucial to my work (free-lance editorial work). This is a long query, but maybe not complex in nature, in terms of what I need to do. To sum up, there are two basic issues: 1. How to get Outlook to open normally (urgent). 2. How to get back to one general folder within Outlook, to avoid any problems with later re-installations, etc. Thanks!

• Answer:

  Hi again, Its possible that Outlook works differently than Outlook Express and all folders are indeed in one. In that scase, I would do as I explained with the "Outlook.pst" folder. Choose the one you wish to keep, close Outlook, rename the unused one to outlook.pst.old, change the nema of the other outlook.pst to remove any (1) or any number in it and reopen Outlook. If there are more outlook.pst folders, you will have to select which one to keep and rename all others. See if this works for you. And again, keep backups just in case. But having the files named as .old will allow you to go back if the results are not as expected. -=clouseau=-