Exchange Messaging Outlook Volume 14, Number 14

Managing PST Files

Many users have Outlook configured to use a Personal Folders file (PST) rather than an Exchange server mailbox. While anyone using a POP3, IMAP, or SharePoint links must use a PST, many Exchange server users choose a PST for various reasons, most often because they have a very small mailbox quota. While PST usage with Exchange accounts is counter to many of the reasons for using Exchange server, many organizations continue to allow the use of PST files.

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Outlook 2010 - First Impressions

Now that Outlook 2010 is in public beta, or semi-public beta, we'll have more in-depth articles in future issues but this week I'll highlight some of the features I think everyone will like.

I really like what I see. Yes, there are bugs and things don't always work correctly (and many icons are red dots), but that is to be expected in a beta. The interface has a somewhat flat design. I like it, but it may change some in later builds. Outlook has a ribbon interface throughout, including in the main window. For the most part, it does bring all commands and options out in front but there will be a learning curve for experienced users.

The bell is back! As many of you have noticed, Outlook 2007 dropped the reminder bell on the Day/Week/Month view. The missing bell generated a lot of feedback and Microsoft added it back.
A second feature which should make a lot of people happy is the ability to "pin" events to dates. Yes, you will be able to change time zones and the event will no longer span two days. Other "yes, they listen" changes include All day events are shown on the To-Do bar and the links in the navigation pane are gone, hopefully for good. Note that hourly appointments will still move when the time zone is changed.

The Rules and Alerts dialog hasn't changed much, unfortunately, so large numbers of rules will still be hard to manage, but Run Rules Now is easier to access from the ribbon and there is a Select All button in the Run Rules Now dialog.

A feature I'm happy to see is Quick Steps. These are rules you'll use after the mail arrives. You can apply a quick step either by clicking the button or with keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+1 through 9). I'm hoping Quick Steps will put an end to the habit of filing messages in the Deleted Items folder.
I'm also glad to see that views have their own ribbon this makes it much easier for users to find.

I think the new conversation view is great - it's gmail-like in that replies and messages moved to other folders are included in the thread in the message list. The conversation collapses to one message (with the number of unread messages in parenthesis), reducing the space the conversation uses in the Inbox. A 'clean up' button removes redundant messages from the current folder and puts them in a folder of your choice. The "close all items" button is a favorite of mine - I have a habit of leaving a lot of messages open and now I can close them all with one click.
In keeping with the "PST Management" theme this week, one final comment: PST files now default to the My Documents folder and the default filename is the email address. While this makes it easier for home users to find and backup their data, it has the potential to make things more difficult for administrators who allow users to create PST files and use roaming profiles or folder redirection. Note that SharePoint library PST files and cached Exchange's OST files are stored under the user account in \Local\Microsoft\Outlook\, only PST associated with accounts or created by the end user are stored in the My documents folder.

Networking PST files

We get too many questions from users and administrators who are accessing PST files over the network or who want to. This is not recommended and is not supported by Microsoft. While there are many things we do that are "not supported by Microsoft", in this case data loss can result.

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Unlocking a PST

An administrator had this question about the use of Distributed File System and PST: "We are implementing DFS and want to reduce the file lock on PST’s. All users connect via Citrix. I have seen reference the following reg key "PSTDisconnectDelay” to alter the timeout value on the file lock. However, I can not find the \pst reg key on any server. Should the key be there already?"

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Storage Media and PST Files

Since network use is not recommended, what storage media, besides the local hard drive, is safe to use for PST files?

Floppy disks are not PST-friendly; fortunately very few people use floppy disks anymore. Their read/write speed is too slow for Outlook (and many other applications), leading to many corrupt and unrecoverable files.

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Recovering an Orphaned OST

Is there any way to recover an .ost file that was orphaned after an exchange server was decommissioned?

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ANSI and Unicode PST Formats

If you use Outlook 2002 or earlier or are using a PST created in Outlook 2002 or older, you are using an ANSI format PST. This has a limitation of 2 GB. Outlook 2003 and 2007 support Unicode format, with a PST size of 20 GB by default. They support up to 33 TB, which may be practical some day. When you upgrade to Outlook 2003/2007, you need to make new PST files, Outlook will not upgrade a PST to the new format.

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