Increased Size of OST File Causes Synchronization Issues in Microsoft Outlook
Posted by admin on July 14th, 2010It is a good idea to upgrade your Microsoft Outlook email client to ensure better performance in Cached Exchange Mode. In the Cached Exchange Mode, a copy of your Exchange Server mailbox is stored locally on your hard drive in OST file format. It reduces network traffic to MS Exchange Server. If you use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in Cached Exchange Mode, it compresses the information while improving performance. However, under some situations, the synchronization process fails and OST (Offline Storage Table) file can not be converted into PST (Personal Storage Table). At this point, you need to manually convert OST file to PST file for connecting to the Exchange Server.
Microsoft Exchange Server enables you to change the synchronization timer valuables either by modifying the existing registry entry or creating a new one. For effective and flawless usability of Microsoft Exchange Server in the Cached Exchange Mode, you should not implement any of the below features or their combination:
- Multiple Outlook Address Book containers.
- Instant Messaging (IM) integration.
- Toast the alert feature along with the digital signature on the emails.
In general situations, Address Book includes Contacts and the Global Address List folders. Some of the organizations configure the subsets of Global Address List, which are shown in Address Book. You should remove the third-party add-ins of Microsoft Outlook because sometimes they may cause problems.
In case the size of OST file becomes very large, synchronization issues occur that prevent OST PST conversion. The increased size of OST file makes the following impacts-
- The performance of Microsoft Outlook is degraded. To sort out this problem, you need to either reduce the size of OST file or turn the Cached Exchange Mode off.
- If your Public Folders Favorites include large sized public folders, the size of OST file may grow. It affects the performance of Cached Exchange environment.
- If the format of OST file is ANSI and its size approaches 2 GB limit, the application may crash and synchronization process may fail.
When it occurs, you need to reduce the size of OST file by removing the unwanted contents. Then you need to convert OST to PST using third-party applications. The OST to PST conversion tools are capable of converting all sizes of OST files.
Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop is the most advanced and effective utility to convert unusable OST file into a usable PST file. It works well with Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 (XP), and 2000.