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ANSI vs Unicode PST – Also Shedding Light on Outlook File Size Limit Issues

Posted On : Feb-17-2011 | seen (560) times | Article Word Count : 661 |

A suggested practice that will prove good and will keep issues at arm’s length is to keep deleting undesired messages time to time and compacting PST. Also, another practice to store PST data in separate PSTs instead of focusing on a single one also helps in avoiding problems. Commercial split PST tool is another fail-proof way of solving the problem of large-sized PSTs
Unicode Vs ANSI PST: A PST file having Unicode format (Outlook 2003 & 2007 versions default Outlook.PST file) supports to accommodate large sized files and also supports extended character set. This valuable support imparted upon different types of character sets provides a sort of flexibility over the language control; the second one is rather more significant. Outlook file size limit is much higher in newer versions of the application as compared to older ones. Unicode format serves to store 10 times more data than ANSI format allows.

ANSI vs Unicode PST: The enlarged Unicode PST size limit i.e. the file storage limit of Unicode formatted PST files is especially beneficial for those Outlook users who have a sea of emails coming in and going out from the application on a daily basis, as with 20GB space, they don’t have to worry about the capacity of storing mailbox contents. Such users are not really required to keep a customary track of popped up errors and issues emerging out of 2 GB limitation imposed on ANSI (American National Standards Institute) format of PST files (Outlook 2000 & 2002 versions). Moreover, the issues arises when the size limit of ANSI PST file goes beyond the 2GB storage level, because this is when the real issue strikes, which is of application corruptness. This is the reason why many users of older Outlook versions now prefer to go onto new format of MS Outlook 2003 & 2007 versions.

Outlook File Size Limit Issues

You experience poor Outlook performance while accessing some large size PST file. Till the storage of 2 GB, PST provides you good access experience, however, as soon as the PST size goes between 2GB & 4GB, then the convenience is projected on the hardware used. PST file above 4GB makes you experience short pauses. Frequency of these short pauses grows when PST file grows above 10GB size
Large amount of time is required to restore a bulky PST file from backup
Outlook management issues are encountered with large PSTs
A distinctive issue is seen with IMAP accounts i.e. the Internet Message Access Protocol accounts like Hotmail, MSN etc in MS Outlook 2003 version, which still need an ANSI formatted PST file; though, default continues to be a Unicode. So, issues crop up, which are mostly related to Outlook PST file size depending upon the account that is in use
Before fixating on the version of Outlook to be used, now users first ask themselves that, what is the size limit of a PST file that is supported in the version they are selecting. But, for the ones, who already are using an older version with ANSI PST, they ask some questions like how to increase PST size easily and how to increase PST file size quickly. For their gladness, there are split PST tools to split PST files that are large in size into smaller parts. Once the bulky file is splitted into smaller files, PST file size will reduce and the storage space will increase.

It is rather difficult and in-fact not possible to directly convert ANSI PST to Unicode PST or vice-versa. For doing so, you however require to copy/move/export Outlook email data from old PST to a new email data file. A suggested practice that will prove good and will keep issues at arm’s length is to keep deleting undesired messages time to time and compacting PST. Also, another practice to store PST data in separate PSTs instead of focusing on a single one also helps in avoiding problems.

Commercial split PST tool is another fail-proof way of solving the problem of large-sized PSTs. One such useful tool is PCVITA’s Split Magic software, which is safe to install and easy to use. High-end scanning algorithms that are employed by this tool help in splitting heavy PST file in a matter of few minutes.

splitpst.splitpstfile.org/

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_ANSI vs Unicode PST – Also Shedding Light on Outlook File Size Limit Issues _53095.aspx

Author Resource :
Steered by utter intelligence and sheer excellence, the author of this content piece is working with the PCVITA Group. D Larson is heading the integrated and unified knit of expert content. He has consistently produced content pieces for many products in the PCVITA extended range, including Split PST software, which is a product solving Outlook file size limit issues.

Keywords : outlook file size limit, ansi vs unicode pst, unicode vs ansi pst, unicode pst size limit, size limit of ansi pst file, what ,

Category : Computers : Hardware

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