Zimbra Outlook PST Import Wizard Tips

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Zimbra Outlook PST Import Wizard Tips

Sometimes you may have difficulty importing your PST with the Zimbra PST Import Wizard. This may be due to the version of your PST file (i.e. Outlook 2000), the condition of your PST file, or emails with unusually large attachments. Here are a few tips that might help solve some sticky PST import problems.

Outlook Version

  • You must have Outlook 2003 installed on the machine on which you are running the Import Wizard. Outlook XP and earlier is not supported. If you can't locate a machine with Outlook 2003, then you can install Microsoft's trial version of Office 2003. The Import Wizard does not actually load Outlook during the conversion, but does access some of its libraries therefore it must be installed.

PST Preparation

  • Make a backup of your PST file! If you are going to use your old Outlook 97-2002 PST to do the import, it may not work with the older Outlook versions after loading it with Outlook 2003.
  • You may need to re-export your old PST to a new Outlook 2003 PST. This will clean up any inconsistencies and make the import wizard's job much easier. This may be particularly the case if your PST came from Outlook 2000 and earlier.
  • Use SCANPST.EXE to repair your PST beforehand to clean up any problems with your PST before you import. You can find SCANPST.EXE by searching for it in Windows ((START => Search => For files or folders)). For an en-US Outlook 2003 installation it should be located under c:\program files\common files\system\msmapi\1033\.

Message size limitations

  • By default, the migration tools have a local 10MB limit on the encoded size of uploaded messages. Do not confuse this encoded size with Outlook's reported attachment size. A file with an 8MB attachment will encode to an email over 10MB, and will therefore not be imported. A 12MB attachment = 16MB encoded, a 14MB attachment = 19MB encoded.
  • The 10MB limit can be adjusted by adding a registry key to the Windows machine running the Import Wizard. The key/value is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ZCSMigWiz\MaxAttachSizeMB   (Zimbra versions < 4.5.6)
 or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Zimbra\MaxAttachSizeMB   (Zimbra versions >= 4.5.6)

You can adjust this using RegEdit (Start -> Run -> regedit). Add a key called HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ZCSMigWiz in Zimbra versions earlier than 4.5.6, and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Zimbra in Zimbra versions equal to or later than 4.5.6. Then add a DWORD Value called MaxAttachSizeMB and assign it a value (in MB obviously; e.g 15 = 15MB). The next time the Import Wizard runs, it will use this value.

Note: The default mta settings on the Zimbra server also limit attachments (and complete mime-encoded messages) to 10mb.

RAM Requirement

  • Importing PSTs with large attachments requires a lot of physical RAM in the Zimbra server. It is best that you have the minimum required RAM according to the Zimbra specs (1GB). However you may be able to import most or all of your messages with less. An email with a 14MB attachment may not import to a machine with 768MB of RAM and standard heap settings. If you really must live with less physical RAM, a temporary workaround for migration purposes is to increase the Tomcat/Java heap size on the server. The heap size defaults to 30% of all available physical RAM. You can increase that percentage (for example, to 40%) by using the following commands on the Zimbra server:
# su - zimbra
$ zmlocalconfig -e tomcat_java_heap_memory_percent=40
$ tomcat stop
$ tomcat start

WARNING: Remember to set the heap size back to the previous value after you are done!

Verified Against: unknown Date Created: 3/15/2006
Article ID: https://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Zimbra_Outlook_PST_Import_Wizard_Tips Date Modified: 2009-11-24



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