Email Best Practices 2.0

   (a)  Data files containing email our client is unaware of.
   (b)  They aren’t being backed up (or they don’t know).

In fact it’s so common I feel compelled to write about it, boring as it is, so you can ensure you are taking care of yours.

They are also called archives, personal folders, message stores, PSTs. They are stored locally on your computer and contain emails including attachments, contacts and calendar in a big single file.

Even if you use Microsoft Exchange Server, you probably have Data Files. Only your Mailbox data is stored on Exchange Server (and backed up by IT). If you use Outlook’s Archive feature you will have Data Files. If you don’t use Exchange, you will have at least one Data File stored on your computer.

Almost everyone has them. You may have them even if you think you don’t.

Annoyingly, they are hidden files. If you can’t see them, do this: open Windows Explorer | Tools menu | Folder Options | View tab | then select “Show hidden files and folders” and uncheck “Hide extensions for known file types”.

Here’s what the Data Files look like:

Are you seeing them all in Outlook? It’s up to you to decide which ones you want open in Outlook. Looking in your Mail Folders section in Outlook (ignoring the Mailbox branch for Exchange users), you should see something like this at the root level:

In this example, each of the PSTs map onto an open Data File (with slightly different names). It’s ok not to have all of them open but make sure you have the mail open that you think you have.

Do you know what’s in them? Sometimes we find several Data Files that look the same. Perhaps they were archives you forgot about. Sometimes they contains copies of emails in other PSTs.

If you aren’t sure what’s in them, open them in Outlook. Here’s how: File menu | Open | Outlook Data File then browse to the location and select it. You can easily move messages from one Data File to another by dragging and dropping.

How big are they? Outlook 2003 and higher no longer have the 2GB limit, but the bigger they are the slower your Outlook will seem. Many people create a new one every year. Minimizing data loss due to data corruption is one reason people split their data into separate Data Files … and not having emails in one convenient place is one reason they don’t (we have suggestions to get around that).

Most importantly, are they being backed up? If, like me, you’ve lost email due to PST corruption, you probably feel better backing up your Outlook Data Files. I think it’s particularly important for notebook computers where the risk of loss/corruption is even higher.