A “.PST file” is a type of file that is used by Microsoft Outlook as a container for email messages. As well as being a native storage format, users can create separate .PST files to store and archive emails into. For example, a company may create a .PST file for a project or set of projects, or .PST files for periods of time.
The principle of creating specialised .PST files is to fix the email silo problem – i.e. get the emails out of an individual user’s mailbox and into a shared repository. However the reality is that there are many problems with working with .PST files in this way and a good percentage of our customers report what attracted them to Topaz Filer is the ability to get rid of .PST files. Sometimes the problems that people have with their .PST files lead them to describe themselves as being in a ".PST hell".
This paper illustrates common problems with using .PST files in this way.
The Crux of the Problems with .PST Files
The essential problem with .PST files is that they are designed as files that are to be used by individuals – they are not designed to be shared. They are also designed to be quite small. (In fact, in the upgrade to Outlook 2007 Microsoft changed the file format from .PST to .OST files and significantly reduced the usable size of these files by introducing a performance problem that occurred when files reached relatively small sizes.)
Because of the design of the .PST file itself, it’s very difficult to create archives of any reasonable size and share these across the network. It’s not possible for multiple people to open the same .PST file at the same time meaning that it’s effectively a single-user system. (Which brings with it the classic problem of one user opening the .PST file, going to lunch and another user needing to open it and being unable to do so.)
Topaz Filer is a server-based system that uses a combination of high-performance database and reliable file system to centrally store and share your organisation’s emails. It’s designed from the ground-up to facilitate information sharing and long-term archival.
Sent Items
A very common usage pattern with Outlook is to create individual folders within the mailbox for clients and projects. Items are then moved from the Inbox to those folders as and when is appropriate. .PST files are a natural extension of this – i.e. creating a separate .PST file and moving out of your main mailbox into a .PST file.
Our research has shown that people generally forget about the items in their “sent items” folder. Whilst many people operate this sort of filing system for inbound emails, the sent remain un-filed and potentially lost. This is obviously extremely risky – if you’ve made any promises over email they are almost certainly to be found in your “sent items”.
The advantage of using Topaz Filer is that it will prompt you whenever you send an email meaning that there is now a structured process in place to properly handle sent items.
Offline
The ability to work away from a network connection to the office is something that every professional desires. .PST files, because they are not designed to be shared, are messy and difficult to work with offline.
Topaz Filer offers a huge advantage here using its
powerful offline features – it’s specifically designed to allow mobile workers to take advantage of the filing and retrieval functions whilst offline. Users can queue emails to be filed when the network is available, plus they can nominate projects to download to their laptops.
Search
Outlook’s search features have never been very good, which is why upon installation modern versions of Outlook invite you to download additional components that offer faster searching. If you’re loading and unloading archived .PST files from a network share, acceptable search performance is not available.
With Topaz Filer, full-text searching is server-based meaning that it’s always available and always fast. (Topaz Filer’s full-text search is also available when the application is offline.)
Failures and Stability Problems
The final problem to consider with .PST files is that they are an old format that has problems with stability. It is not unusual to try to open a .PST file to discover that it has been damaged and needs repairing. (There are a large number of tools published by Microsoft and by third-parties to demonstrate the point.) This is clearly a bad issue for an archiving solution to have – an archiving solution obviously has to be extremely stable and reliable.
Conclusion
.PST files are commonly used in organisations as a way of solving the problem that emails locked away individual mailbox “silos” do not facilitate information sharing and archiving. However the file format and the way they are used means that they are acceptable for archiving small email collections for individuals and totally unsuited to sharing stores of information with others in real-time. Topaz Filer offers a better solution, being designed from the ground-up to reliable and securely share information with the whole team. Features such as offline filing and storage, server-based full-text search and sent items prompting dramatically improves the model for email sharing.
