PST File Same Size After Archiving

Try compacting it.

I believe the .pst format is a lot like databases in which removed records are "tombstoned" instead of physically deleted. This is done because it would slow things down a lot to rewrit the entire .pst file every time an email was deleted.

So the spaces where your archived email did exist in the old .pst are marked empty and will be used to hold new data, but those spaces weren't removed. Compacting removes the empty space.

Reduce the size of a Personal Folders file (.pst) If you delete items from a Personal Folders file (.pst), the file is automatically compacted in the background when you’re not using your computer and Outlook is running. If you want to immediately reduce the size of the file, you can force a compaction. The procedure to compact the data file might take several minutes.

On the File menu, click Data File Management. Click the data file that you want to compact, and then click Settings. Click Compact Now. NOTE You do not have to exit Outlook after you compact a .pst file.