Tips To Solve Outlook Error: 'the File File_name Has Reached Its Maximum Size'

By Author: Mohit Mathur
Total Articles: 105
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Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions have a 2 GB file size limitation for personal folders (.pst files). Once these files reach or go beyond this value, PST complain of being unusable by the user. Though this limitation no more exists in Outlook's later versions, but Outlook performance and data management issues are still needed to be taken care of. If required, it is however recommended to have multiple PSTs instead of piling messages in a single one. To serve the same purpose for an already large PST, Split PST File is the option.

To exemplify such problems with a large PST, suppose you use MS Outlook 2002. You keep on receiving emails and storing other items in a single PST (the default PST) while ignoring the fact that this practice can lead to further issues. At a particular point, when you attempt to save an Outlook item such as appointment, contact or task, you cannot do so. Additionally, you receive an error message as stated below:

The file file_name has reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file, select some items that ...
... you no longer need, then permanently (shift + del) delete them.

The error shows that PST has grown to its maximum file size value and cannot accept more items. The error is received when Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 1 is installed. Installing the service pack for Outlook 2002 causes the application to stop saving more data after the PST has reached to 1.82 GB size value. This prevents against corruption that might occur to a PST above 2 GB.

Few suggestions to deal with such problems are:

(1) Open the PST and delete the items that are no longer required. Empty the 'Deleted Items' folder and compact the PST. Compacting the PST is essential to discard the unused space of the file.

(2) Create a new PST and import data from the original PST to it.

(3) Use a Split PST software helps your PST to divide in smaller, Outlook-usable parts. These Split PST File utilities are safe and interactive to use that solve all the issues related to a large PST.

Stellar Phoenix PST File Splitter is a powerful utility designed to split a large PST on the basis of e-mail IDs and date. The safe and effective tool can Split PST using appropriate procedure. The tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. The software divides the PST into parts that can be individually imported for further use in Outlook.

About The Author: Mohit Mathur has passion for writing Technical articles. He is right now writing articles related to products like Split PST & DBX Repair and has now become a professional writer.
For more information please visit:- http://www.split-pst-file.com/