Some background first:


Office 10, Win 11
Utilising IMAP
Small Business Owner


My wife's outlook file for her business was huge, like >4Gb. I tried to tell her to go through everything and delete waste, but she's insistent she needs all the previous years emails etc.

I created another storage data file with the bulk of the old stuff that she can access but it does not sync with any device / anyone. It just stays on her local hdd.

We had to isolate last week (covid) and I had to go to her business and bring home her entire PC workstation so she could have access to those old emails.

She enjoyed the whole working from home experience (no interruptions ), and would like to do more at home, i.e setup a home office.

QUESTION: Rather than me having to lug everything home each time and set it up for her, is there a way to have multiple pcs in different locations that will be able to access this 'extra' data file.

I've searched online and from what I have found MS do not recommend data files to be saved on the cloud due to file locking situations etc.

However the data file I am talking about (I think??) does not even get synced, it is just a place where old emails are stored.

Can Outlook access old stored emails from a file that is stored on the cloud or does it have to be on the local drive ??

Appreciate any suggestions

Deleting email messages does not shrink Outlook data files. After deleting messages, one must compress the data files to make them smaller.



Data File Properties... > Advanced... > Compact Now