[pchelpers] Re: Re Outllook Attachments

Hi John,

Monday, March 22, 2004, 2:44:24 AM, you wrote:

JB> I have a large Outlook PST file of 458MB (where all mail is
JB> stored), and the reason it is so large is that Outlook for some
JB> strange reason files all the attached files coming in and going
JB> out with the Inbox and SentItems folders. Particularly for
JB> everything in the SentItems, I don't want to keep attachments sent
JB> out as I already have the files stored elsewhere, and I see I can
JB> manually edit individual messages and delete the attachment.

Only 458MB? :) From an Internet point of view, the attachment is part
of the email. Keeping it as part of the email improves accountability
in case of an audit, investigation, etc. For instance, the file that
you sent may have been an older version than what you now have.

To my knowledge, Outlook has no option to store attachments
separately.


JB> For instance before that I used Eudora, and the folders were
JB> separate from the attachments and 7 years worth in 102 folders
JB> still only came to 66MB. I don't thank anyone has a PST file that
JB> small, and it makes it a lot harder to back up.

You can have multiple PST files, if that helps, although you can only
search one at a time, annoyingly.

JB> Question 1 - Is there any way to set Outlook not to file
JB> attachments in the SentItems and any tools to delete attachments
JB> from all or selected folders or messages? (If not here is an idea
JB> for a really useful shareware tool)

If you right-click on the folder name, and select Properies, you'll
find an option to compress the folder, which may reduce the size,
although probably not by much, unless you ofen move stuff around.
Also, if you right-click on he column headers, you'll see a Field
Picker opion, by which you can pick a Size field. You can then sort by
this to find the largest emails. If you're using Win2K or WinXP, ry
compressing the file; it'll still be the same size, but take up less
room on the hard drive.


JB> Question 2 - Alternatively I see Outlook offers to archive older
JB> items. What does that do?. I don't want to have to switch to

It creates an Archive.PST file.  I don't use this option, and move
emails around manually.

JB> another file to search for old messages. Anyway I don't trust
JB> Outlook to do this as it tends to lose track even of the one PST
JB> file I have and cannot see the address book that is there. If it

If it can't see it, how do you know it's there?  If it's simply not
normally visible, you may need to set it as the default.


JB> Question 3 - Also I notice in Microsoft security articles that
JB> Outlook users are recommended to change the default view to not be
JB> Outlook Today, as it makes Outlook vulnerable to all sorts of
JB> exploits. (Google search on mailto interface will bring up lots of
JB> references). Does anyone know how to change the default view, I
JB> can't find it. (This is an example of the hard to configure
JB> complaint).

It's under Options, on the Other tab, Advanced Options button.

Hard to configure? There's always Outlook Express, with no options. ;)
I've found that all well-featured email programs seem to have tons of
options, and most of them reasonable, alhough specific opions are not
always easy to find.

--Scott.


Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
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