Call them archives, call them personal folders, call them .PST files. Regardless of the name used, Outlook users love them and Outlook help desks hate them. At least, this help desk tech does.
Right or wrong, users want file cabinets. (I suspect most of it is ‘CYA’, but that’s a corporate culture issue.) Some create a new archive for every different subject and sender, with literally dozens of personal folders. (I had one user with forty.) Some dump everything into a single fat folder (over five gig) they’ll never effectively search and that constantly teeters on the brink of electronic implosion. (And I mean -everything-; “Subject: Autoreply: I’m on vacation week of 5/10/97”)
Anybody got any best practices, besides banning them like asbestos? Even better, anybody got any alternatives to offer users who’ve just got to have that customer quote available at all times? I already disable the ‘AutoArchive’ feature by default.
All clients are running Outlook 2007, although 2010 is an option if it can ease or enhance management.