The Right Way to Manage (and Get Rid Of) PST Files
Second-Level Technical Support Engineer Michael Pelzer says, "Companies that struggle with a large number of PST files in their organization regularly reach out to us about our MailStore Server software." The following scenario is not uncommon: "Users create PST files to transfer emails from their Outlook mailboxes to their local machines in order to exceed mailbox quotas. However, the problem for IT administrators and, in fact, anyone who wants to access the important information stored in these emails, is that it is not easy to determine all the locations where these PST files are ultimately saved," he continues. In general, PST files pose challenges for IT administrators in many ways.
The Right Way to Manage (and Get Rid Of) PST Files Second-Level Technical Support Engineer Michael Pelzer says, "Companies that struggle with a large number of PST files in their organization and therefore are interested in our MailStore Server software regularly contact us." The following scenario is not uncommon: "Users create PST files to transfer emails from their Outlook mailboxes to their local machines in order to exceed mailbox quotas. However, for IT administrators and indeed everyone who wants access to the important information contained in these emails, the problem is that it's not easy to determine all the locations where these PST files are ultimately stored," he continues. In general, PST files pose challenges for IT administrators in many ways.
Time-Consuming Backups
As previously explained, PST files are typically scattered across various locations on users' machines instead of being centrally stored. In addition to making backing up the files difficult, this practice often leads to the loss of important data and ultimately results in penalties for not complying with legal retention periods or data availability requirements.
Error-Prone File Format
Older PST formats are often damaged when they exceed the 2 GB file size limit, while newer formats are not completely immune to file corruption. In particular, the use of PST files that are not locally stored on the relevant workstation is risky.
Unmet Compliance Requirements
Although legal retention requirements for email storage apply not only internationally but also vary depending on the situation, most companies are subject to some kind of legal obligation regulating email storage and processing. However, as a rule, PST files are outside the control of an IT department and therefore are not suitable as a way to meet legal requirements. For example, users can intentionally or accidentally delete emails created from PST files, which may result in legal risks if these emails are subject to specific retention periods. MailStore Server allows you to define retention policies that prevent emails from being deleted, but only if they are legally required to be retained. In addition, retention policies that can be created separately in the MailStore software are particularly important from the perspective of the EU GDPR, as they help companies comply with GDPR requirements. Defining retention policies provides IT administrators with full control over how long different types of emails are archived. They can decide whether emails are automatically deleted from the archive and, if so, when they should be deleted, thus complying with various legal retention periods.
Emails Cannot Be Found Quickly
Björn Meyn, a Senior Systems Engineer at MailStore, explains a realistic scenario: "The importance of emails in business communication means that critical content, for example when used as evidence, can quickly become part of a legal dispute." He continues, "However, if these emails are not centrally archived and the company cannot prove they were not tampered with, it may be deprived of fundamental arguments in court." To prevent such situations, it is recommended that these companies abandon PST files and instead store their emails in a centrally secure archive. Another advantage is that with the integrated search function, emails can be quickly found in the MailStore archive when it's secure.
More Work for the IT Department
PST files continuously create work for IT administrators. Examples include restoring lost data during backups or repairing corrupted files upon user request. Moreover, when PST files are centrally stored, they create high demands for storage and backup.
Solution: Migrate Your PST Files to a Central Archive
When a company decides in the long term to abandon PST files, MailStore Server will ensure a smooth transition. As a starting point, all PST files in the company can be centrally archived. The software can be seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Outlook, for example, so that users can continue to access their emails as before and also search through emails with an extremely fast full-text search function. If needed, users can also restore emails from the archive with a single mouse click, thereby completely freeing the IT department from the burden of retrieving lost emails at a later stage. Finally, introducing an archiving solution makes PST files unnecessary as a temporary solution to jump over mailbox quotas once and for all, for everyone. With the help of configurable deletion rules, the MailStore Server can delete emails after they have been archived, thereby permanently keeping the data volume on the email server at a low level. Mailbox quotas are no longer needed.
Learn more about the benefits of email archiving or try MailStore Server for free today with our 30-day trial version.
Source: The Right Way to Manage (and Get Rid Of) PST Files - MailStore