Well actually it is, but isn't that what everyone usually says?
Here's the situation. Microsoft Outlook blew up today. Without going into a lot of boring details, most of which I really don't understand, the "outlook.pst" folder managed to get it self corrupted. It's there. I know it's there because all the emails I keep stored there are, well, there. But Outlook can't seem to find it so there is no place to post new (read incoming) emails.
I know what the problem is. It is too full. I have become very good at ignoring my emails over the past few months, and I decided today would be a good day to start cleaning them up. I managed to load almost 8,000 of those pesky little notes into the "Deleted Items" folder. I don't know this for certain, but I am guessing that the limit of emails that folder can safely hold is just under 7,500. I am also guessing that Microsoft estimated that no one in their right mind (a group that clearly includes me) would ever let their "Deleted Items" folder get that full. When it does, the "outlook.pst" folder blows up, and Outlook blows up, and I not longer have the ability to handle my email, which if I had been doing all along, I wouldn't be in this position.
That's the part that's my fault.
What upsets me is that I just got off the phone with one of those pay-as-you-go techincal support places, since my current computer is older than dirt. (In computer jargon that means it was purchased sometime prior to yesterday.) The fee for 30 minutes of world class technical support was $50.00, and guess what -- 30 minutes is the minimum you can purchase.
The technician spend most of the time reading from the same Microsoft webpages I had already read. He very competently told me to take all the steps I had already taken. And with a remarkable degree of self confidence he told me after none of those steps worked, I needed to remove Outlook and reload it, which I had already concluded. The reason I called an expert was to see if there was something I missed or some proceedure I didn't know about. Evidently there was not.
To his credit, he managed to run my 30 minutes in such a way that after about 45 minutes on the phone, I still had 15 minutes of support time left. He offered to let me call him back to use that 15 minutes so he could tell me to remove Outlook, insert the CD into my CD-ROM drive, and reinstall Outlook. But there is a problem. My CD-ROM drive is broken. So I guess I need to call him back to tell him that, so he can take some of my remaining minutes to tell me I need to replace my CD-ROM drive.
So the part that is not my fault is the fact that I never realized you could actually get people to pay to tell them something they already knew and to give you the money for that information before they get it.
Did I mention I was learning how to use Outlook Express?
John
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If you rename your pst file or move it to a different folder then Outlook should either generate a new default one or prompt you with some sort of interview to create a new one. Once Outlook is happy again you can try opening the old pst file as an "outlook data file" or whatever jargon your version of Outlook uses. Even if the pst file is corrupted you should have to reinstall Outlook.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to ping me if you want some free consultation that may or may not be better than the "Geeks on Trike" that you just spend $50 on. Allen should have my e-mail if you don't and I'll be happy to send you my phone number if he doesn't have it.
You really don't have to rename it, just go into your outlook folder (where the pst resides) and make a new one with a slightly different name, then set it to be the deafault email box.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if you are just "deleting" your files, and it goes into the deleted folder, it is not adding to nor taking from. It is still in the same pst folder. It is like moving stuff from one pocket of your pants (assuming you are wearing any) to another pocket. Still in the same pants. The trick is to empty the deleted items folder.
Here is a trick (but potentially dangerous one if you accidently deleted something you do not want deleted) is to hold the shift key down while you are deleting something. It will bypass the deleted items folder and simply disappear. Of course, if you accidently deleted something, you do not have a way to recover it, but it does make for short and quick clean up of your pst folder.
As John A. suggested, make that your secondary folder and you can clean it up from there.
Boyd