hi there,

my outlook storage has grown dramatically over the last couple of years.
every couple of months I try to get rid of old data, but I have not found a
good balance between reducing my "online" storage and having still access to
older messages in a good way. so I thought I'd ask you out there if you
eventually have some better ideas than I have.

I have:
Windows XP, Exchange server, Outlook 2007, offline folders in .ost file (max
200MB limit from Exchaneg server), ca. 90 (!) .pst files in sizes between
10MB up to 660MB, total 9GB of messages. currently all opened in Office 2007
because I need access to older fiels now and then. searching via Windows
Search 4.0 and X1 (because that one is faster than Windows Search, but
Windows Search integrates better into Outlook 2007).

I have a lot of performance problems. lately also file locking issues (I
assume). So I would like to reduce the 9GB of PST files dramatically, but I
still would like to have searchable access to that archived data.

I could use the autoarchiving function in Outlook. But that would archive
into other PST files that need to be open by Outlook at the same time. and I
would have to set the archive destination file *per* PST file I have open (I
would like to keep my current PST strategy which is one PST per customer).
that is quite a task and I would factually double my PST fiels from 90 to
180, at least short term during the archival process. perhaps there is a
tool I could use for that?

there is also that question of searchable offline PST files. Is there a tool
that supports this?
I know that X1 allows searching offline .pst files. I could use that, but
creating those autoarchive settings first might be a pain.

any type of advise is really appreciated.

thanks

dan