By David Gewirtz
Last week, I ran a fun, little article entitled "How to share your .PST files." Of course .PST files aren't meant to be shared, which was the end conclusion of the story. In the intervening week, I've gotten a number of interesting responses, tips, and suggestions. Since I'm traveling on assignment this week, I figured that summarizing the responses I got would be a quick and easy (and even relevant and useful) way to meet my writing commitment while living on a dubious network connection.
Britta Koch says:
I know that Microsoft recommends not sharing .PST files or putting them on network drives, and I'm sure if they say it doesn't work, it REALLY doesn't work. However, if you are not having mail delivered to the .PST file, I've found it works well. In my case, I file my emails in personal folders. And that .PST file resides in my home directory on the network. Why would I do this? It keeps the size of my mailbox down on the Exchange server so I don't get yelled at for taking up too much space. The file also gets backed up every night. I also like the cleanliness in my mailbox, because if I don't expand the personal folders, I don't have them hanging out in my folder list.
I generally have my main machine connected to the .PST file, but if I'm going on the road, I connect my laptop to them. I've found on whichever computer I've opened Outlook first, it has priority to the files and the other one can't access them. The other traveling strategy I have is to move the folders that I'll need while I'm away back into my exchange mailbox. This way I can access it for some reason I have to resort to OWA while I'm traveling. I've been working this way for five years, and I've never had any trouble with the .PST file. I know its not the type of solution anyone would want to implement company wide, but I have used this technique for a few end users.
P.S. I really enjoy the newsletter and the information/ads on add ins is very helpful.
David Himes says, "I agree, you shouldn't share them. But they can be copied from one machine to another. I do it regularly between my laptop and desktop with no ill effects."
Jasper Blow, who has some of the coolest email stationary I've seen, says, "I quite frequently do an export or backup of my personal file folders from my laptop and restore them to my desktop at home; instant access to my emails and contacts, etc."
Mark Eisenberg suggests, "I just read your article on sharing PSTs and wanted to share the solution I have settled on. Remote Desktop Connection. It works great through a 100BT connection."
