OneDrive - Can't delete .pst file

[B_Gen]

Hello @everybody

I've got a problem with a user in our domain. He safed some private files in his OneDrive and he also exported an outlook .pst file.

The problem I have right now is that somehow, his OneDrive storage has filled up with one large .pst file (around 800 GB) and i can't delete it. If I delete it in his File Explorer, the .pst disappears for some seconds and after that it pop up again.

The second special thing is, that if i have a look manually, the file is only 1.6 GB large - but if i have a look with the site collection, it tells me that it's around 800 GB large (look at attachment)..

Is there anybody with a solution, or did someone have that problem in the past?

Thanks for every help.

Kind regards

B_Gen

[#2 · Accepted solution]

The size is growing because every time outlook touches the file it counts as a change and it’s resyncing another copy every single time it’s opened and closed etc. so this space is due to the version history copies.

Best I can guess you are not closing out of the outlook process when removing the pst from the OneDrive location. I would suggest removing the pst from outlook profile. And closing outlook. Wait for sync then remove the file.

[#3]

You should also consider blocking .pst from syncing to avoid future issues.

[#4]

Thanks for your response.

Yes indeed, that's right. I've seen the history copies and its an amount of around 500..

I've removed the .pst from the outlook profile, but it didn't change anything (atm).
Is there another option to (for example) force delete an .pst file?
Or is there no other option?

Kind regards
B_Gen

[#5]

Thanks, i will do that asap.

[#6]

Once you remove the pst from outlook you need to go into documents / outlook files or whoever the file was on the computer and delete the file there. This will remove it / sync the removal from the onedrive.

[#7]

 how to do that @Ricardo Viana