Get to Know About PST Size Limit For Outlook 2016 / 2013 / 2010
I have heard that the default file size of PST in Microsoft Outlook email client is 50 GB but, also heard that this value can be expanded up to 4PB with help of Registry value. Is this statement true? If yes, how can we increase PST size limit for Outlook 2016, 2013 and 2010?
As we all know, Microsoft Outlook email application stores all its content in a locally saved file named as personal storage table file. This is a database file that can be used for storing Outlook mailboxes data like attachments, contacts, journals, events, tasks, etc. Each edition of Microsoft desktop email client holds a different structural format of PST file – ANSI and UNICODE. Outlook versions 2002 and below uses ANSI (American National Standards Institute) format, and after that all the other versions including the latest one i.e., 2019 employs UNICODE format.
Based upon the PST format, different size limit had been defined by Microsoft mail client developers. When this file size exceeds, there is no chance of entering more data into the respective PST file. In fact, chances of PST file corruption are high due to storage file size exceeding.
Change PST Size Limit for Outlook 2016 / 2010 / 2013 & Other Versions
For Outlook 2010 / 2013 / 2016 – PST file size limit is defined up to 50GB that can be increased or decreased by enforcing modifications in the Windows registry settings.
For Outlook 2007 and 2003 – Here, the PST file is having size limit of 20 GB.
For Outlook 2002 & Prior – Enable Microsoft users to store data only up to 2GB.
Can we Expand PST Size Limit From Its Default One?
Yes, it is possible to increase the default size limit. For this, you have to use registry editor and then, accordingly make changes within it. To help you out with the same, we are enlisting location in the registry key from where you can modify the file size.
Outlook 2003 – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\PST
Outlook 2007 – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\PST
Outlook 2010 – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST
Outlook 2013 – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\PST
Outlook 2016 – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\PST
The following two new values of DWORD must be generated or set :
1. WarnLargeFileSize – Do not set this value higher than the decimal value 4090445042 or the hexadecimal value f3cf3cf2.
2. MaxLargeFileSize – In this field, don’t set the value higher than 4294967295 decimal value or ffffffff hexadecimal value.
The first value defines that how many MB an end user could write data on the PST file, before encountering warnings that PST Size limit in MS Outlook exceeds. The second value defines how many MB the machine can write data to PST file. The difference between both these values should be of 5% because there is more written to the Outlook .pst file and .ost file than the user data.
Hope That You Got Answer to Your Question
Microsoft clients need to keep one thing in mind that they should not ignore the topic of PST size limit for Outlook 2016 / 2013 / 2010. They should be known with how much space is occupied and how much is left. Situations like Outlook application hangs, facing different Outlook errors one or the another day, etc., will be faced by end users, if they ignore the file size aspect in Microsoft Outlook. If users want any assistance regarding any technical topic associated with Outlook mail client, they can feel free to contact us anytime.
