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PST Disorder I’ve been a long-time fan of your excellent magazine, and I wanted to let you know I very much appreciated your Gmail vs. Outlook article (December 2022 issue).

It reminded me that there’s one problem with Outlook that nobody really addresses, though—its infamous PST data files. What’s particularly annoying is the fact that it doesn’t matter how many emails you delete from how many folders, even permanently (meaning deleting emails from the deleted folder).

Even if you make an effort to list and delete emails that have a big attachment file, the PST file size doesn’t get smaller. I’ve used the Compact Now feature in the Outlook Data Files Account Settings and it doesn’t do anything.

The problem becomes crippling if you don’t have a good internet connection. I frequently stay in small hotels outside the USA, and if you need to upload a 6-8GB file, it can take an eternity until you’re able to close Outlook properly at the end of its uploading procedure. I want Microsoft to help us find a way to effectively reduce the size of Outlook’s Data .pst file in a real and proportionate manner with the quantity and size of the emails that Outlook has.

–S. Nash

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GUY COCKER, RESPONDS: Believe me, I’ve spent many days of my life trying to solve the email conundrum. I don’t delete emails, though perhaps I should, but I like to be able to quickly find press images and contacts from my old emails when I’m working.