Microsoft Outlook is a popular email client that allows users to send, receive, read and manage their emails. Outlook uses PST files to store data such as email, calendar, folder, and contact. Over time, these PST files become bulky, slowing down the Outlook performance and many more. In order to fix this, we need to split the PST file into smaller parts. Here, we will discuss the four different methods of splitting PST files, but before knowing that first, why do we need to break PST files?

Why Do We Need to Split the PST File?

Oversized PST files cause many problems for Outlook users. Let us discuss them one by one:

Outlook Performance: Large PST files can slow Outlook’s performance. Therefore, splitting up PST files is a needed task to scale up its performance.
Data Corruption: Large PST files increase the chances of data corruption; reducing the PST file size prevents data corruption.
Data Backup: Oversized PST files are hard to back up the data. Split them into smaller sizes quickly to back up.
Easy to Manage: Large-size PST files are difficult to manage, so making them more minor can help you easily manage, share, and move PST data.

Now, we will understand the four different methods to split PST files so that users can prevent the problems that we mentioned above.

Method 1. Split PST file using the “Archive” Feature

Microsoft Outlook has a feature called Archive that we will use to split the PST file. Here are steps to split the PST file using the Archive facility:

First, open Outlook on your PC and go to the File tab.
Now, click on the Options and then Advanced.
Then, under the AutoArchive section, click on AutoArchive Settings.
After that, choose the folder you want to Archive and select the date range.
Then, Click the Browse button and pick storage locations to save the archived items PST.
Give a name to archived items PST and hit OK.

After applying these steps, users can split the PST file into smaller parts; if these steps seem tough to apply, you can apply a second method.

Method 2 Split PST File Using the “Import/Export” Facility

Microsoft Outlook has a feature called Import/Export; we are going to use it to split the PST file. Follow the steps below:

First, open Microsoft Outlook.
Now, locate the File button and click on it,
Go to Account Settings, click on the Open & Export section, and then Import/Export.
In the Import/Export section, select the Export to a File option and hit the Next.
After that, select the Outlook data file (.pst) option and click the Next button.
Now, select the PST file’s folder from where you want to export data to a new PST.
Choose the location to save the newly created PST file.
Finally, click on the Finish button to end the process.

By applying the above-mentioned steps, users can split up PST files and Manage Outlook Data Efficiently.

Method 3. Split PST File Using the “Move to Folder” Outlook’s Feature.

In this method, we use Outlook's built-in feature called Move to folder and split the PST file into manageable parts. Here are the steps to proceed with PST splitting:

First, launch Outlook on your PC.
Go to the File tab, Account Settings and click on the Account Settings option.
Now, choose the Data File option and click on the Add button.
Then, go to the home menu and open the oversized PST file.
Select the mail items you want to export and hit the Move button in the main menu.
Choose the Copy to Folder option, and select the folder from the newly added PST file where you want to move data. Then, kindly hit the Ok button.
After copying all the items, users must delete exported items from the original PST to reduce the file size.

Users can repeat these steps to split PST files by folder into smaller PST files.

We apply the three manual methods to split PST file into smaller parts, but these manual methods are challenging to use and, most importantly, they take lots of effort and time to apply. Besides that, these solutions are risky and lead to the chances of corruption. Hence, we recommend an automated PST Splitter tool to effortlessly and securely break the PST file into several parts.

Method 4 Split PST file by using the Shoviv Software

If you want to split a PST file without using Outlook, you can try Shoviv PST Splitter Software and break the PST file without putting much effort into it. The tool provides tons of features to split PST files by size, folder, date, or year. It comes with an easy-to-use interface that makes the split process easy, even for non-technical users.

Step to split PST file using Shoviv Tool

Get the utility from the Shoviv Website.
Then, add an oversized PST file and tap the next button.
Select the storage location for the output PST file.
Now, choose any criteria: size, folder, date, or year to split PST.
Then, click on the Next button to begin the process.
After the process is completed, click the Finish button.

By following these steps, users can easily split the PST file into smaller parts and fix all Outlook-related problems due to oversized file size.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, splitting large PST files is crucial for improving Outlook performance and preventing data from being corrupted. No one wants to work slowly and disrupt their entire workflow. So, dividing the PST file into multiple parts will surely help users function smoothly in their Outlook program. Here, we first disclosed the manual methods to split PST file, but manual methods have some cons. On the other hand, tools like Shoviv PST Splitter Tool offer a quicker, easier, and more efficient solution, ensuring better management and a smoother working experience.

Louis Young

Louis Young

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