Outlook email client is a very useful application when it comes to sending and receiving messages, keeping in touch with friends and colleagues, and staying on top of things which need to be dealt with, whether at the office, or at home. This email client stores all of your important data locally so that you’re able to access it even when your internet speed drops. But sometimes the size of the thing goes up so much that it gets unwieldy, and this slows down the application.
The 2007 version of Outlook is outfitted to be able to handle a 20GB data file at the maximum, while Outlook 2010 can manage 50GB of data. The size limits can be raised manually, though this would almost always impede optimal performance. The sensible thing to do, as you’ve probably guessed already, is cut down the size of the PST file. That’s how to fix Outlook errors you might be facing, such as a noticeable lag in the application, before it responds to a command.
You’ll need to go to the location where the PST files are stored in the PC. Find and select the file, and compact it, so that the size is reduced.
- In Outlook 2007, go to File> Data File Management. Choose the oversized PST file from here, and hit Settings. Choose the Compact Now In Outlook 2010, go to the File tab, and select Info. Hit Account Settings, and then Account Settings once more. When the dialog box comes up, move to the Data Files tab, then Settings, and choose Compact Now.
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The above step should have shrunk the file enough for Outlook to work properly once more. If it didn’t then the next step is to try and archive the PST file. For this you’ll need the AutoArchive dialog box. There, you can choose from plenty of options to archive the PST file. You could do it right away, instead of setting it up for later and then waiting for it. Hit the Archive button and this will be taken care of.
That was on how to fix Outlook errors arising from the size of the mailbox. For this, you can use the Cleanup Tools button, and then choose Mailbox Cleanup. Though the size of the PST file will remain the same after compacting it, it will have considerably more blank space in it, which the application can use for speed.