The keys to keeping the size of your folders manageable are to
- Periodically empty the Deleted Items folder
- Archive or delete from Sent Items
- Remove attachments from sent messages, assuming that the attached files are stored elsewhere on your system
- Use one of the third-party tools listed here to compress attachments that you want to keep in your folders
- If you are using Personal Folders, periodically compact them to recover space left behind by deleted items.
This page lists tools that can help users and administrators manage Outlook items by archiving items, removing attachments, repairing .pst and .ost files, renaming special folders, calculating folder size, backing up Outlook data.
Do you need to save messages in your My Documents (or other folder)? See How to Save Email Messages to the Windows File System
Utilities for working with attachments, including attachment removers, reminders and attachment compression tools are at Attachment Management Tools
The More Information section includes links to additional types of tools that may be useful for housekeeping.
Administrator and Exchange server housekeeping utilities are now at Housekeeping & Message Management: Exchange Server.
More Information
- Compression Tools -- By compressing attachments, these can reduce the storage space used by Outlook items.
- Search Tools -- These tools provide faster, indexed searching.
- Configuration and Maintenance Issues
- To repair a damaged Outlook PST file
- Overview of Archive and of AutoArchive in Outlook 2003
- OL98: How to Remove or Replace Folder Size Button in Folder Properties
- OL2002 How to Remove or Replace Folder Size Button in Folder Properties
- OL2000 An Overview of Archive and AutoArchive
- Change Outlook Folder AutoArchive settings -- CDO script for changing AutoArchive settings on individual folders
- Attachment Archiving to a File Server Script -- Script to run on Exchange 2000 Server to archive mailbox item attachments as system files and replace them in the original items with a text link to the archived file
- Outlook Mailbox Maintenance Plan
- Attachment Management Tools - Utilities for working with attachments, including attachment removers, reminders and automatic attachment compression tools.
- Using Microsoft Outlook's AutoArchive feature
- Configuring Outlook's AutoArchive settings tutorial
Hi Diane
I just went back to windows from mac (work related) and was searching the web for Outlook archive software. I stumbled onto this post and am so glad I did. This is excellent information and I really appreciate your work and finding this all in one place. I use Diigo and have archived this where I can continue to refer to it in the future. Thanks again so much,
FJJ
I am looking for a script that will open the messages I send and bounce back because of bad email address on them, find the bad address and load them into an Excel or other file, so I can clean up my mailing list. Any ideas? I appreciate any help you can provide.