Thursday, May 26, 2005

Reducing the size of your Outlook Data File

Microsoft Outlook is the email application I use. I tend to keep most email received and sent as a record of dealings with clients and customers. Consequently my mail folder gets pretty large. There are 4 ways I use to keep the file size smaller.
First I use the Archive feature. You can turn this on in the Tools | Options | Other | Auto Archive.
Second I use the search feature of Outlook 2003 (not available in other versions) to locate large email messages. Often times I send the same file (different versions) to the same person numerous times. If this file is several megabytes then this can add a lot to the file size. I will generally delete all but the most recent version. I also delete other unwanted email.
Third I make sure I empty my Deleted Items folder. You can turn this on automatically in Tools | Options | Other | General and customise how this works in the Advanced Options section.
Finally you can compact the file. This is in a different place depending on which version of Outlook you are using and whether or not you are connected to a Microsoft Exchange server or not. Use your help function to locate the compact command. This reindexes the mailbox database and can take a lot of of time but is worth it as it usually drastically reduces the size of the file.


Posted by: Jethro | 7:48 PM |