First of all; you can't share a pst-file and it is not recommended or
supported to store and connect to a pst-file located on a network share.
If it is just for archiving I recommend that they copy their mail to a
pst-file on their local PC and burn it to CD (at least twice!) for back-up
purposes. Additionally you could place one on an Archive server so you've
got a central location for your tape back-ups. Since the data isn't going to
change anymore people also needing the data should copy the pst-file from CD
to their harddisk as well or copy it from the archive server (make sure the
locaton is "Read Only" or only allow "Read" NTFS permissions since it is an
archive). Then they can connect to it in Outlook by File-> Open-> Outlook
Data File... Make sure that the "Read Only" file property is unchecked or
Outlook won't be able to connect to the pst-file.
Copying the individual messages to a Windows Folder is something I see as a
last option to quickly share a single Outlook Item. Storing lots and lots of
single Outlook Items in a Windows Folder makes the back-up and virusscan
process very slow.
If you want to give your users some cleaning tips take a look here;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/cleanmailbox.htm
--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com
Tips of the month:
-Setting Permissions on a Mailbox
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3