GainTools Split PST Tool Review: A Practical Look at Managing Oversized Outlook Files

GainTools Split PST Tool Review: A Practical Look at Managing Oversized Outlook Files

Outlook data files can become rather large over time. Common challenges for customers keeping years of email in a single mailbox include slow performance, backup failures, synchronization problems and occasional corruption.


A lot of users continue using the same Outlook profile until it grows too huge to manage efficiently. To summarize, this study is a reasonable approach to deal with big Outlook files without damaging the mailbox data.


It covers the basics of PST files, manual methods and their limits, a software-based approach, personal experience from an enterprise context, cost, advantages, downsides, commonly asked questions and an overall performance review. If you have a hard time managing your Outlook mailbox, this manual can help you understand what choices are available.


PST information


PST (Personal Storage Table) is an Outlook data file that stores emails, contacts, calendars, notes, journals, and attachments on your local computer. Microsoft Outlook creates PST files when users archive mailbox data or when they use POP3 email accounts.


PST files are commonly utilized in enterprises, schools, hospitals, law firms and government offices that require email storage over long periods of time.


These files are useful because they provide a valuable record of communication, allow offline access, make backup easier and ease email migration. The Outlook speed may, however, suffer when PST files get too huge and require regular maintenance.


Solving the Overgrown PST Problem


Manual Methods


First, I tried to lower the size of the mailbox by using several manual methods.


  1. Archive old emails into different folders
  2. Delete redundant messages & attachments.
  3. Empty Deleted Items & Junk folders.
  4. Compact Outlook data files.
  5. Manually create PST files and relocate directories individually.

These strategies surely did lower the size of the mailbox to a considerable degree.


Manual Approaches Constraints


After a few weeks of employing these tactics, a few problems became clear.


  1. Manual folder splitting requires continual supervision.
  2. Thousands of emails took hours to move.
  3. Misplaced folders could easily be caused by human error.
  4. Attachments caused migration time to increase considerably.
  5. Constant verification is needed for the folder hierarchy.
  6. It was becoming tedious and exhausting to handle several PST files.

Outcome


Outlook did run a little quicker, but it was a lot of manual work. The effort it took to organize the data in the mailboxes exceeded the benefits, especially when there were a lot of employee mailboxes to maintain.


Tools-Based Solution


For ease of operation, I used the GainTools Split PST Tool that automatically splits huge Outlook data files into smaller, well-organized PST files without changing the content of the mailbox.


The software preserves email folders, attachments, contacts, calendars, metadata and folder hierarchy by automatically producing archives, not manually. The resulting Outlook files opened significantly faster, backup processes ran more smoothly and it became much easier to manage mailboxes.


Why Tool-Based Solution Is Better


There are a few advantages of an automated solution over manual procedures.


  1. Processing is faster
  2. Less human intervention
  3. File folder structure preserved
  4. Email Properties Maintained
  5. Can efficiently handle massive Outlook archives
  6. Reduces the risk of data corruption
  7. Considerable administrative time saved

Automation delivers a lot more consistency and reliability than human techniques when a business has several Outlook mailboxes.


My Own Experience


I saw this idea while working with an accounting firm that does financial communications for over 120 corporate clients. Every accountant had years of bills, audit reports, contracts and customer correspondence stored inside Outlook.


The biggest inbox was 43GB in size with around 168,000 emails, 9,400 attachments, 5,300 contacts and 1,900 calendar entries.


The expected time for completion was over 11 hours with manual folder separation.


The automatic method finished the split in around 52 minutes on a Windows 11 workstation with 16 GB RAM and an Intel Core i7 processor.


During testing, no e-mail was lost, attachments were accessible and Outlook opened all the PST files created during testing without any issues.


Read: Why Is Yahoo Mail So Slow? Real Reasons and Practical


How to Use the Tool


Step 1: Download the Software


  1. Download the app.
  2. Complete the installation.
  3. Start the program.

Step 2: Choose Outlook Data File


  1. Click on Browse.
  2. Select the large PST file.
  3. Import it into the application.

Step 3: Choose Split Option


  1. Select the desired splitting criterion.
  2. Split by size.
  3. Date-wise split.
  4. Split by directory
  5. Break down by year.

Step 4. Select Destination


  1. Select the folder where the new PST files will be saved.

Step 5: Begin Processing


  1. Click Split.
  2. Watch the progress pane.

Step 6: Check Results


  1. Open newly produced Outlook files.
  2. Folder hierarchy validation.
  3. Review attachments and emails.

Advantages


  1. Improve Outlook Performance: Breaking up huge mailboxes made Outlook start up a lot faster for day-to-day work.
  2. Reduced Risks of Corruption: It looked like the smaller Outlook files were considerably more stable with backing up and syncing.
  3. Preserves Folder Organization: Every email folder was right where it had been.
  4. Keeps the entire mailbox data: Emails, contacts, calendars, attachments and metadata were not impacted during processing.
  5. Saves administration time: “It took less than an hour to do an entire workday’s worth of work to organize the data by hand.”
  6. Good for Large Mailboxes: Even enormous corporate Outlook archives were processed efficiently and without interruption.
  7. Simple user interface: The step-by-step approach needed very little technological know-how.

Disadvantages


Demo Mode only


Trial Edition enables assessment but features are limited.


Only Windows


Users who are only working on macOS need another option.


Requires Internet for Updates


To install software updates, you need an active internet connection.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


1. Does the software change the original PST file?


No. The original Outlook data file is not affected by the processing.


2. Is splitting password-protected PST files supported?


Processing is only possible for available Outlook files. Password-protected files require sufficient authentication.


3. Will attachments stay attached?


Yep. When you divide, emails and attachments remain linked.


4. Requires Outlook?


Yes. The PC should have Microsoft Outlook installed.


5. How do I separate several PST files?


Batch processing capabilities are subject to the licensing edition available.


Conclusion


Handling big Outlook files manually is more and more challenging as mailbox capacity grows. The efficiency difference was obvious and quick when comparing manual approaches with an automated approach.


The software lowered processing time to a great extent, kept folder organization, maintained mailbox integrity and increased Outlook responsiveness after splitting big data files. During testing on a large accounting mailbox, the entire operation was successfully accomplished without any data loss or structural changes.


The demo version has several limits and users should check the latest licensing rates on the official website, but overall, the experience of the tool remained positive.


In my opinion, this solution can be trusted by individual experts and businesses who deal with big email archives on a regular basis. It is reliable, user-friendly, processes data fast and preserves Outlook data accurately.