Calculating file size, free space of any given .PST file with MrMAPI utility

Earlier in my blog, i got the request from one of the MAPI developer to see is there any way we can calculate the file size, free space of any given .PST file. Also he pointed that he can access the PST file using Stephen’s MFCMAPI utility.

For this activity, I used Stephen’s another tool called,  “MrMAPI” a command line utility. The best part of the tool is that MrMAPI exposes MFCMAPI’s best features (which I love a lot) from the command line and its pretty easy to use. You can download it from: http://mfcmapi.codeplex.com/releases/view/127629

So I used MrMAPI and I can get the file size, free space of the given .PST file (we achieved this, even without writing a single line of code for it ).

Hope this helps.

Exploring with Microsoft Exchange Server Protocols docs

Recently I got requests from the developer community regarding my earlier article – so I take this opportunity to point how you can explore more about Microsoft Exchange Server Protocols. As you know through the Open Specifications program, Microsoft is helping developers open new opportunities by making technical documents related to interoperability for certain popular Microsoft products available to view and download from MSDN at no charge. Although the technical documents are freely available, many of them include patented inventions. Some of these patents are available at no charge under the Open Specifications Promise or the Microsoft Community Promise. The remaining patents are available through various licensing programs. For more information, please visit the Open Specifications Dev Center website.

When your look for Exchange Server specific then you can explore Exchange Server Protocols documentation at:

• Exchange Server Protocols Overview Document: It provides information about the protocols and other technologies that are included in the Exchange Server Protocols documentation set and the relationships among those technologies.

• Exchange Server Protocols Technical Documents: It provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary protocols (including extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols) and other technologies that are used by Exchange Server to communicate with other Microsoft products.

• If you’re interested in Microsoft PST file format (.pst) then you can have a look at the https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg615595(v=office.14).aspx and the Protocol documentation for it’s available @ https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff385210(v=office.12).aspx

If you got any questions on these documents then please reach out to the related MSDN Forums: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=330023. Also you can have a look at the blogs authored by the engineers who support Open Specification documents.

Hope this helps.

Outlook: How to compact my PST/OST file in Outlook 2010?

I listed some of the regular questions that we see from our customers from PST/OST are,

1) How to reclaim the space from PST?
2) How to compact my PST file?
3) How to compact PST/OST files to eliminate deleted item space in Outlook?
4) My PST is filling my hard disk?

To conserve space on your hard disk, you can delete unwanted items from the various .pst/.ost files, and then compact the files to make them smaller. If you use Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010 then try the following steps specified in the support KB.

Try this out and reclaim more room in your PC!!

Outlook Object Model : Why i can’t able to assign value for MAPIFolder.WebViewURL ?

One of my customer had created an Outlook Add-in using VSTO & Outlook Object Model (OOM). As per the business logic, he need to implement the WebViewURL in it. The MAPIFolder.WebViewURL works fine and take’s us to set value to it most of the times, but it doesn’t function as expected in some time; the strange thing is it’s not throwing any error or exception when we execute the code.

//[Code Snippet : C# , VSTO, Outlook Object Model (OOM)]

...

//Provide the non-default store path

String pstPath = @"providelocalpath like c:personals.pst";

MAPIFolder _pstFolder;

//Add the PST

this.Application.Session.AddStoreEx(pstPath, OlStoreType.olStoreDefault);

_pstFolder = this.Application.Session.Folders[2];

//Provide PSTFolder Name

_pstFolder.Name = "SampleFolder";

//Set the values

MAPIFolder mf = _pstFolder.Folders.Add("MyHtmlView", Type.Missing);

//Assign value for MAPIFolder.WebViewURL

mf.WebViewURL = "http://www.microsoft.com";

mf.WebViewOn = true;

...

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{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
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.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

MAPIFolder.WebViewURL Property (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook) Returns or sets a String (string in C#) indicating the URL of the Web page that is assigned to a folder. Read/write.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.interop.outlook.mapifolder.webviewurl.aspx

When we start troubleshooting the case, we found that the issue happens for the non-default stores.

During research we found couple of community blog post references, Randy & Ryan’s MS Press book that with respect to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the home page setting is disabled for non-default stores. Non-default stores can include Personal Folders files (.pst) or the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services folders. These folders are also stored in a .pst file. To see the home page setting for a non-default store, right-click the store in the Navigation Pane, click Properties, and then click the Home Page tab.

By default, you cannot type or paste a URL in the Address box. This issue occurs because, by default, home pages are disabled for non-default stores. To overcome this issue, we don’t have any programmatic resolution; but we can implement the resolution by refer the following support KB.

Various Outlook versions : .pst file has different formats & folder size limits

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 & Outlook 2003 have both a different format and a larger overall size limit for the personal folders (.pst) file than the .pst files that are in the earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook.

In Outlook 2002 and earlier, the .pst files are in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) format, and the overall size has a limit of 2 gigabytes (GB).

By default, .pst files are in the Unicode format in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003. Additionally, the overall size of the .pst files has a limit that is more than the 2-GB limit that is imposed by the ANSI .pst files. By default, the limit for a Unicode .pst file in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003 is configured to be 20 GB.

As in earlier versions of Outlook, Outlook 2003 Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) accounts and HTTP accounts use .pst files that do not use the Unicode format. Therefore, the .pst files for IMAP or HTTP accounts in Outlook 2003 are limited to 2 GB. In Outlook 2007, the Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4rev1 (IMAP4) accounts and HTTP accounts do use Unicode format .pst files and are not limited to 2 GB.

Outlook UI Issue: Save password setting not retained ?

One of my customer uses MS Windows XP SP3 & Outlook 2007 reported that whenever he tries to connect to the Internet service provider (ISP) to retrieve messages from POP3, his earlier entered password is not retained. He was pretty sure that  he chose to save the password. Also he tried to entering the correct password again does not resolve the issue.

This issue occurs for one or more of the following reasons:

• You have a corrupted Outlook profile or a corrupted Outlook Express identity.

• It may be due to the registry changes or corrupted information.

• This issue might happen add-ins also.

I used the following troubleshooting steps:

Step 1: Check Outlook has valid profile or not.

It’s recommended to make use of new profile without any issues associated with that.

After you locate the .pst files, create a new e-mail profile in Outlook. To do this, follow these steps.

1.Start Outlook.

2. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.

3. Click the E-mail tab, and then click New.

4. Follow the instructions in the Add New E-mail Account wizard to create the new account.
Note If you do not have the account information that the Add New E-mail Account wizard requires, view the settings for your existing account. To do this, click the account on the E-mail tab in the Account Settings dialog box, and then click Change. Note each setting in the Internet E-mail Settings dialog box.
If you do not know the password for your e-mail account, contact your Internet service provider (ISP). Or, if your mailbox is not associated with your ISP, contact the network administrator of the server on which your mailbox is located for help with your password.

Step 2: Open the Outlook in safe mode

This will avoid any add-ins getting loaded and creating the issues

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open box, type outlook.exe /safe, and then click OK.

Step 3: Troubleshooting with COM Add-in

To troubleshoot possible problems that are caused by COM add-ins, disable any COM add-ins that you do not use regularly. Then, restart Outlook. If that does not resolve the problem, disable the add-ins one by one. If that does not resolve the problem, disable all add-ins. To disable COM add-ins, follow the steps for the version of Outlook that you are using.
For Outlook 2007
To disable COM add-ins, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu in Outlook 2007, click Trust Center.

2. Click Add-ins, click COM Add-ins in the Manage list, and then click Go.

3. In the COM Add-Ins dialog box, click to clear the check boxes for any COM add-ins that you want to disable.

4. After you disable the add-ins, click OK, and then restart Outlook.

PST/OST Series : Personal folder files are unsupported over a LAN or over a WAN link

Do you know why personal folder files (.PST files) are unsupported over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) link?

The .PST files are not meant to be a long-term, continuous-use method of storing messages in an enterprise environment.

Although it is possible to specify a network directory or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path as a storage location for a .PST file, network usage is not meant to be a long-term, continuous-use method of storing messages in an enterprise environment.

As you know that a .PST file is a file-access-driven method of message storage. File-access-driven means that the computer uses special file access commands that the operating system provides to read and write data to the file. This is not efficient on WAN or LAN links because WAN/LAN links use network-access-driven methods, commands the operating system provides to send data to or receive from another networked computer.

Other Behaviors of .PST Files over WAN/LAN Links

•All operations take longer.

• Write operations can take approximately four times longer than read operations.

• Outlook has slower performance than the Exchange Client

Suggested alternatives: Can suggest/make use of,

1) .OST files
2) Microsoft Windows Terminal Services

For more information, please refer the following MSDN article.

Outlook Performance Series : Outlook 2007 & Windows Vista error – .pst file could not be opened

Welcome to troubleshooting performance issues – MS Outlook Performance Series – Part 6 

One of my customer reported that he is facing issue with Outlook 2007 & Windows Vista environment, as he can’t open the .pst files.

He get the following error: <sample>.pst file could not be opened. The file may not be compatible with this version of Outlook or it may be corrupted.

End of the research, we found the issue happens due to the mail file is in an encrypted folder.

To work around this problem, we need to make use of Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to repair the personal mail file.

Please find the following http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934545 which describes the issue, causes and its resolution in-detail.

Outlook Performance Series: Outlook data file (.pst or .ost file) issues

Welcome to troubleshooting performance issues for MS Outlook 2007 Series – Part 4

If the .pst file or the .ost file shuts down incorrectly, you may receive one of the following error messages the next time that you start Outlook:

•	Error message 1:  Outlook cannot open the data file filename until it has been checked for problems.
•	Error message 2: Microsoft Office Outlook’ exited without properly closing your Outlook data file ‘drive:UsersusernameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOutlookoutlook.ost’. ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ must be restarted. If this error message recurs, contact support for ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ for assistance.
•	Error message 3 : The data file filename was not closed properly’. This file is being checked for problems.

If you receive one or more of these error messages, you may experience performance issues until Outlook finishes the reconciliation process for the .ost file or for the .pst file. The following gear icon is displayed in the status bar while Outlook checks the data file in the background:

When this icon disappears, the .pst file or the .ost file is reconciled. If you exit Outlook while the gear icon is present, reconciliation must restart the next time that you run Outlook. It’s recommended that you leave Outlook running until the gear icon disappears before you exit Outlook.

An incorrectly shut down .ost file or .pst file may occur for one of the following reasons:

•	Antivirus scanning of the file
•	Forced Microsoft Windows shutdown before the Outlook.exe process shuts down completely
•	Outlook add-ins

If you see this issue frequently, and you have to exit Outlook shortly before you shut down your computer, it may be better to shut down Windows while Outlook is still running.