A reader asks: "Is there a way to delete items from within the mailbox in bulk? I have a lot of items in a public folder and need to selectively delete some of the contents of the PF."
 
Define "selectively". If you need to be completely selective, you'll need to go through the folder and pick and choose. You can use custom views or run rules on the public folder to help you find the messages you want to delete, but you'll still need to browse the folder to delete the messages you no longer want to keep.
 
If you just want to delete all messages over a specific age, you can use Public folder age limits, either the default of 180 days or select an age for the folder. This method will delete the older messages as they age, resulting in a smaller and more manageable folder.  Mailbox manager will do the same for mailbox messages and can be configured to only delete larger messages over a specific age. If you aren't the Exchange administrator, you can use custom views to show only messages that arrived before a specific date, then select all and delete.

Office 2007 was released to manufacturing two weeks ago and is now available to volume licensers and MSDN subscribers, with public availability expected in January 2007.  As is typical when a new version is released, there are some reported problems - including many reports that it's slow and sluggish, especially on startup.
 
Should you upgrade? In my opinion, yes. It's not something you need to rush out and do as soon as it's made available, but Outlook 2007 offers many useful features and better security that everyone should plan to upgrade, especially those who use one of the older versions of Outlook: 97, 98, 2000, or 2002. Keep in mind that for best results, everyone in the organization needs to be using Outlook 2007.  
 
The To-Do bar, calendar overlays, and the ability to easily share calendars, without using Exchange server  or with people who don't use Outlook, makes it well worth the cost.  While you can share calendars with people who use Macs or other calendar programs, you cannot share them with people who use older versions of Outlook as they don't support importing multi-event *.ics files.
 
To avoid problems upgrading, I recommend uninstalling older versions of Office and Outlook first and rebooting. If you have problems after upgrading, your first troubleshooting step should be to make a new Outlook profile and disable any add-ins which may be installed. Disable Add-ins from Tools, Trust Center, Add-ins, Manage COM Add-ins (at the bottom of the page).

As part of Outlook 2007's improvements to Outlook’s Find capabilities, there were changes made to Advanced Find. The best improvement is that it's somewhat faster now, but other changes are not as positive.  Advanced find uses the index used by Instant search, so if the Windows Desktop Search (WDS) hasn't finished building the index, you may not get any results returned, unless you build the search conditions using the Advanced tab.  When you use Windows Vista, Advanced Find doesn't work unless WDS is installed.
 
 You also can't save an Advanced Find as an Office saved search (*.oss) for later use. While you can save the find as a Search folder when searching for Messages, Office saved searches are sometimes more convenient, especially for less used searches. Since Search folders are email only, Office Saved searches were the only way to save searches for non-mail item types. Unfortunately, this is not possible in Outlook 2007.  

You can control how Outlook starts by using command line switches. While many of the switches are used only when you are having problems with Outlook, including /cleanviews  and /cleanreminders, several allow you to do things in Outlook from a command line, such as open a new form (using the /c switch) or a open new window to a specific folder (/select foldername).
 
One of my favorite tricks is creating shortcuts for new messages preaddressed to specific people that I frequently send messages to. The shortcut's command line looks like this:
 
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /c ipm.note /m someone@slipstick.com;mary 
 
You can create a Quick Launch or Desktop shortcut that opens a custom form, such as a While you were out phone message form, by replacing ipm.note with the published form name (i.e. ipm.note.wywo). (WYWO sample forms are available at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/mssampleapps.htm)
 
If you're new to command line switches, at the Start menu, Run command type:
Outlook /switch
(Replacing "switch" with the actual switch you need.)
Then click OK to start Outlook.
Occasionally you'll need to use the full path to Outlook, in which case, the command line will look like this:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Outlook.exe" /switch
 
You'll need to use the full file path if you are creating desktop shortcuts. 

Unless otherwise noted, the following switches are also valid for older versions of Outlook and work with both Internet mail and Exchange server accounts.
 
/a 
Creates an item with the specified file as an attachment.
Usage:
     Outlook /a "C:\My Documents\labels.doc"
If no item type is specified, IPM.Note form is assumed. This switch cannot be used with message classes that aren't based on Outlook forms.
 
/altvba otmfilename
Opens the VBA program specified in otmfilename, rather than %appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook\VbaProject.OTM. Use this switch when you need to run macros not in your VBAProject file.
 
/c messageclass
Creates a new item of the specified message class, works for any valid MAPI form.
Examples:
     /c ipm.activity creates a Journal entry
     /c ipm.appointment creates an appointment
     /c ipm.contact creates a contact
     /c ipm.note creates an e-mail message
     /c ipm.stickynote creates a note
     /c ipm.task creates a task
 
/checkclient
Prompts for the default manager of e-mail, news, and contacts.
 
/cleancategories
 Deletes any custom category names that you have created. Restores categories to the default names. Outlook 2007 only.
 
/cleanclientrules
Starts Outlook and deletes client-based rules. Used by non-Exchange account users.
 
/cleandmrecords
Deletes the logging records saved when a manager or a delegate declines a meeting. Used by Exchange Server accounts.
 
/cleanfinders
Removes Search Folders from the Microsoft Exchange server store.
 
/cleanfreebusy
Clears and regenerates free/busy information. This switch can only be used when you are able to connect to your Microsoft Exchange server.
 
/cleanprofile
Removes invalid profile keys and recreates default registry keys where applicable.
 
/cleanpst
Launches Outlook with a clean Personal Folders file (.pst)
 
/cleanreminders
Clears and regenerates reminders.
 
/cleanroamedprefs
 All roamed preferences are deleted and copied from the local settings on the computer where this switch is used. Included are roaming settings for reminders, free/busy grid, working hours, calendar publishing, and RSS rules. Outlook 2007 only.
 
/cleanrules
Starts Outlook and deletes client- and server-based rules.
 
/cleanserverrules
Starts Outlook and deletes server-based rules. Used only with Exchange server accounts.
 
/cleansharing
 Removes all RSS, Internet Calendar, and SharePoint subscriptions from Account Settings. This does not delete content previously downloaded to your computer, it only removes the subscription. Outlook 2007 only.
 
/cleansniff
Deletes duplicate reminder messages.
 
/cleansubscriptions
Deletes the subscription messages and properties for subscription features. Used with SharePoint alerts. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.
 
/cleanviews
Restores default views. Use with care as all custom views you created are lost.
 
/embedding
Opens the specified message file (.msg) as an OLE embedding. Also used without command-line parameters for standard OLE co-create.
 
 
/f msgfilename
Opens the specified message file (.msg) or Microsoft Office saved search (.oss).
 
/finder
 Opens the Advanced Find dialog box. Outlook 2007 only.
 
/firstrun
Starts Outlook as if it were run for the first time.
 
/hol holfilename
Opens the specified .hol file.
 
/ical icsfilename
Opens the specified .ics file.
 
/importprf prffilename
Launches Outlook and opens/imports the defined MAPI profile (*.prf). If Outlook is already open, queues the profile to be imported on the next clean launch.
 
/launchtraininghelp assetid
Opens a Help window with the Help topic specified in assetid.
 
/m emailname
Provides a way for the user to add an e-mail name to the item. Use either the full address or the alias. Only works in conjunction with the /c command-line parameter.
Usage:
     Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m test@slipstick.com
     Outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m dianep
 
/nocustomize
Starts Outlook without loading outcmd.dat (customized toolbars). With older versions of Outlook the *.fav file doesn't load.
 
/noextensions
Starts Outlook with extensions turned off, but listed in the Add-In Manager.
 
/nopreview
Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off and removes the option from the View menu.
 
/p msgfilename
Prints the specified message (.msg). Does not work with HTML message formats in older versions of Outlook.
 
/profile profilename
Loads the specified profile. If your profile name contains a space, enclose the profile name in quotation marks.
 
/profiles
Opens the Choose Profile dialog box regardless of the Options setting on the Tools menu.
 
/recycle
Starts Outlook using an existing Outlook window, if one exists. The Outlook shortcut in the Quick Launch bar uses the /recycle switch.
 
/remigratecategories
 Starts Outlook and upgrades colored For Follow Up flags to Office Outlook 2007 color categories, calendar labels to Office Outlook 2007 color categories. Also adds all categories used on non-mail items into the Master Category List.
 
/resetfoldernames
Resets default folder names (such as Inbox or Sent Items) to default names in the current Office user interface language.  For example, if you connect to your mailbox Outlook using a Russian user interface, the default folder names are in Russian and cannot be renamed. After changing the user interface language or installing a different language version of Outlook, you can use this switch to reset the default folder names.
 
/resetfolders
Restores missing folders for the default delivery location.
 
/resetformregions
 Empties the form regions cache and reloads the form region definitions from the Windows registry.  Outlook 2007 only.
 
/resetnavpane
Clears and regenerates the Navigation Pane for the current profile. Removes all Shortcuts and Favorite Folders. Has the same effect as deleting profilename.xml in your user directory. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 only.
 
/resetsearchcriteria
 Resets all Instant Search criteria so that the default set of criteria is shown in each module. Outlook 2007 only.
 
/resetsharedfolders
 Removes all shared folders from the Navigation Pane.  Outlook 2007 only.
 
/resettodobar
 Deletes and recreates the To-Do Bar task list for the current profile. The To-Do Bar search folder is also deleted and re-created.  Outlook 2007 only.
 
/rpcdiag
Opens Outlook and displays the remote procedure call (RPC) connection status dialog.
 
/safe
Starts Outlook without extensions, Reading Pane, or toolbar customization. Valid in all versions of Outlook.
 
/safe:1
Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 only.
 
/safe:2
Starts Outlook without checking mail at startup. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 only.
 
/safe:3
Starts Outlook with extensions turned off, but listed in the Add-In Manager. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 only.
 
/safe:4
Starts Outlook without loading Outcmd.dat (customized toolbars) and *.fav file. Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 only.
 
/select foldername
Starts Outlook and opens the specified folder in a new window.
Usage:
     "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Outlook.exe" /select outlook:calendar
     outlook /select "outlook:Inbox\Old Messages"
 
Use the following three switches to specify a sharing URL to connect to Outlook.  Outlook 2007 only.

/share feed://URL/filename
Connect a RSS feed.
 
/share stssync://URL
Connect to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list.
 
/share web://URL/filename 

/sniff
Starts Outlook and forces a detection of new meeting requests in the Inbox, and then adds them to the calendar.
 
/t oftfilename
Opens the specified .oft file.
 
/v vcffilename
Opens the specified .vcf file.
 
/vcal vcsfilename
Opens the specified .vcs file.
 
/x xnkfilename
Opens the specified .xnk file.