Tech Yoda's Tip of the Week: Speeding Up Outlook

It's come to my attention that some of you are suffering from a case of PSO, otherwise known as Painfully Slow Outlook.  While this disease isn't completely curable, with careful management and close attention, you can live a happier, healthier life.

First off, you need to determine how large your mailbox is.  Go to C:\Documents and Settings\(your username)\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and look for .ost files.  These are your Outlook folders, and you should have one or two of them, along with a .pst file called 'Archive' (or several).  Keeping the size of your main Outlook file (the .ost one) low, you will improve the speed that it can process your mail.  You should keep this file under 2 GB (under 2,000,000 KB), for sure, but the smaller the better.

STEP 1 TO A FASTER OUTLOOK: If your file is larger than the recommended size, you should make use of archive folders.You may already have an archive folder--scroll down to the bottom of your folders list and see if you do.  If you do, there are many ways to move your emails that you are saving but no longer using--one of them is to drag and drop the folder you want moved out of your inbox to the archive folder.  If you don't, run the archive function by going to File > Archive...

An example of a good folder to archive would be one that contains all the information on an event or project that is now completed, and that you won't be adding more emails to.  You can click and hold to select that folder and drag it all the way down to your Archive folder.  That will remove it from your inbox, but you can access it at any time by going down to your archive folder.  If you have email folders that you are still adding emails to, you can still move the old ones down to a folder of the same name in the Archive folder.

STEP 2 TO A FASTER OUTLOOK: There are some RSS feeds that are really valuable to have in your Outlook (like this one for example!).  However, having lots of RSS feeds can slow things down.  If you haven't gone in and deleted the RSS feeds that Outlook automatically loads for you, you should do that now.  In your inbox, scroll down to your RSS feeds and click the plus sign to see the list of the ones being delivered to you.  Delete all the folders except the ones you actually want--like the ones that CRHC owns.

STEP 3 TO A FASTER OUTLOOK: Delete your deleted files.  You don't need all that stuff, so why keep it?  At least get rid of SOME it...pretty, please?

Because this is important information for our server as a whole, and I want to make sure everyone received and read it, here is your gold star moment--if you read this far shoot me an email or comment on this post so I know you got the message.  Thanks!