Truncate Microsoft Outlook Email Messages

  author
Written By Deepmala
Chirag Arora
Approved By Chirag Arora  
Published On September 28th, 2023
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email clients used widely across the globe either independently or with an Exchange server. However, it may happen that different persons might be using its diverse released versions as there are multiple versions of Outlook available that as 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002, and many more. The reason behind its popularity is that it offers a user-friendly, easy interface and simple environment. No technical skill is required to utilize it, besides other than emails it provides stores for contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, etc.

But the fact is that the earliest version of MS Outlook 2000, 2002 has a size limitation of 2 GB. If you are using Outlook 2002 the most significant cause that disables access to data is a corruption of PST files due to the size of nearly 2 GB. PST files larger than 2 gigabytes will cause errors on Outlook. You can use the Truncation Utility Software to fix the errors related to 2 GB PST files.

Error Encounter due to 2 GB PST file Size!!

  • Whenever you try to access or load an oversized PST file, you will see the error message

“xxxx.pst cannot be accessed – 0x80040116”

OR

“Errors have been detected in the file xxxx.pst. Quit all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox Repair Tool”

  • Whenever you try to receive a New Message to the PST file, Outlook will refuse to accept any new Message data and you will see the error

“The file could not be added to the folder. The action could not be completed”

OR

“The file xxxx.pst has reached its maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file, select some items that you no longer need, then permanently (shift + del) delete them”

OR

“Can’t copy the item”

Error 0x80040116 is the most common error occurring on the screen when the PST files of MS Outlook exceed the 2GB limitation. The error can be remedied with the help of the 2 GB Truncate Tool. One can easily download the software from the Microsoft site.

2GB Outlook Truncate Tool

As we all know ScanPST.exe helps repair damaged and corrupted PST files. In the same way, Microsoft provides another utility named “PST2GB.EXE”. The software is used to split large PST file sizes to resolve the issues related to oversized PST. PST2GB.EXE is specifically a Truncate PST Tool that helps to divide oversized PST files into smaller parts.

The best thing about the software is that the size of the truncated copy being created is defined and specified by the users themselves. Suppose you are unable to track the location of the tool then you can download it from the Microsoft Office website.

Steps to Run Truncate Tool!!

  • Download the Truncation Utility software from the Microsoft site. Save the file to your desktop.
  • When the download File finishes move the 2gb152.exe files to another file folder
  • (Msstdfmt.dll,Msvbvm60.dll,Pst2gb.exe,Readme.rtf,Readme.txt).
  • Open the PST2GB.EXE program, Browse corrupt PST files in it, and click on Open.
  • Then Click Create, Select the name and location of the truncated file that you wish to create then click Save.
  • Then enter the amount of the PST data that one wishes to truncate in the .pst file. There is no correct amount that one can use.

Note: It would be better to truncate at least 20 to 25 MB PST data. A user can truncate the data by 15% if 20 to 25 MB of data is easily truncated.

  • After that Run ScanPST.EXE ( Inbox repair tool) on smaller parts
  • Open the recovered PST file in MS Outlook

Note: ( This step is optional ) If the PST file opens then right-click the root folder, click on Properties, and then click Compact Now to start the compression. It will take 4-8 hours to complete the compression process.

  • If the PST file does not open then the truncated PST file would be rejected and the process would be repeated with the original PST file. More data would be truncated in the first effort and then the process would be tried again.

Depending on the Outlook version, install the update or hotfix. These updates prevent Outlook from allowing the PST file to exceed the 2 GB maximum file size. Use any one of the following approaches to manage the size of the PST files.

  • Use more than one PST file
  • Use the archive feature
  • Save attachments to a file system folder and then delete them from messages

The 2 GB Truncation utility can be used to recover the data, but it is not 100 % successful. There are a few limitations of the tool discussed below.

Limitation of 2GB Truncate Tool!!

  • The software takes lots of time to split oversized PST files. If the process is not completed successfully then one has to repeat it again and again
  • The Functionality of the tool is limited to 2GB PST files. If the size is greater than 2 GB, the software usually fails.
  • During the splitting process, the software also deletes some other data from PST files. Hence if you have no data backup of relevant files then there is a chance that you lose any data.

Error: “Run time error 713 class not registered. You need the following file to be installed on you”

Sometimes when you try to run truncate the above error. To resolve this problem, one needs to follow a few simple steps:

  • Search for the file MSSTDFMT.DLL file on your computer
  • Once it is found, if it is not already in the C:\Windows directory, move it into this directory
  • After that, Click on Start then Select Run and type cmd to open a command prompt
  • In the command prompt, type regsvr32 “C:\Windows\msstdfmt.dll”

Outlook Recovery-Tool for successful recovery!!

From the above information, it is clear that the truncate Tool is not successful in many scenarios. In that case, use third-party PST File repair software. The utility uses the same as a truncate tool but provides you with simple steps to recover lost data files. There is no size limitation as one can recover any number of data files.