Syncing Outlook PST data files

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1

Has anyone tried and succeeded in syncing Outlook PST data files between 2 PCs?

2

It depends. If you want real-time synchronisation, then the answer is “no”. This is because those files are locked by Outlook while running, and you can only sync them after closing the application completely.

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3

Thanks, that’s right: I was asking for syncing 2 PCs that are not online at the same time. Ex: Home PC with Work PC. Will this work? As I never succeeded manually by simply copying/pasting those files from one computer to another. Only worked by exporting/importing through Outlook. If it works with Synchthing, it means that I’ll have to move their folder to another location, right?

4

so long as the outlooks are off, they will sync. I sync archives all the time with no issue, however they always sync 100% of the data, not just changes, so if your PST is large, you may not be able to sync the entire file before you start outlook again.

If the pst is large, export out everything up until say, last 12 months to an archive thus the live email pst will be smaller (may need compacting)

5

Thanks, good to know. I think my files are not so big and I’ll be able to wait everything is uploaded from first PC and downloaded the other one. It won’t be a daily routine but rather occasional so it should work. My concern was mainly whether Outlook will accept those updates. Do you work also with PST files that way?

6

I don’t use PST files in day to day use, they are used for archive purposes as we use Exchange Server. However experience tells me that so long as the PST is transferred to another device and Syncthing is not scanning or syncing the file, Outlook will open it as normal.

However, you can only have one master PST, you will not be able to merge changes from two PSTs, so you will have to remember that if you open Outlook at home at say 10pm, that becomes the master if any emails are added to it, then the work one will have to sync those changes before you open in at 9am the next morning.

Whilst it is doable, I would make a copy of a PST just to ensure that it’s all working fine and certainly have versioning enabled as a safety net

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7

Yep, right. That makes sense and I’m planning to implement it that way. Thanks!