Forum Discussion
Search Index per profile or per PST ?
Hi, running classic desktop Outlook and I recently noticed that my Search Index C\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows.DB is 26gb and I'm trying to understand why it is so large and if it needs to be that way.
I have Outlook setup with multiple PST files, some of which are quite large and rarely used, and Outlook can be quite slow when they are open.
So to keep Outlook working quickly, I setup two profiles, one with these rarely used PST files and one without. (My main mailbox is hosted by MS with an OST file.)
So I wonder: do I effectively end up with two indexes of the mailboxes that are in both profiles? Or Outlook / Windows Search is smart enough to index those a single time for both profiles?
Thanks for your advice...
3 Replies
Indexing is per profile, even though Windows really manages the indexing. Here is a tip...when you open one profile, leave it Outlook open overnight and keep Windows off sleep mode. It should finish by morning. If not, check the indexing status in that profile and wait until it's down to 0. A new profile with many PST will gain indexing status up to half million. Then it will go down when completed. It will go fast, or should.
Thanks for your reply. So just to be sure we understand each other correctly: you are saying that if the same PST (and/or online mailbox) is in two profiles then its search index is effectively created twice and its index occupies twice the space?
Here is what I have experienced, clients who have a profile setup with a few email accounts that need a new profile, I tell them to leave Outlook open all night/into the morning so it will index. Not exactly sure if that doubles the index, it might. So deleting the other profile would slim that down. I never delete profiles for clients due to data it holds that might need to be collected later. I leave that to the client to decide and only in a few times in my 30 year career has other profiles needed to be deleted.
