Cleaning out Outlook E mail

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Cleaning out Outlook Email

The following are tips to keeping Outlook Email folder sizes to a minimum. If users have any questions, please call the Helpdesk on 6194357.

Empty the Deleted Items folder

Every time an email message is deleted, it goes into the ‘Deleted Items’ folder.

This folder can grow quickly, so it needs to be emptied regularly.

The folder can be emptied automatically every time Outlook is shut down or manually.

To manually empty the ‘Deleted Items’ folder:

1. Open Outlook.

2. On the ‘Go’ menu, click ‘Folder List’.

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Folder list

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3. Select the ‘Deleted Items’ folder and rightclick. Click on the “Empty

‘Deleted Items’ Folder”. This will delete all messages in the ‘Deleted Items’

folder. A message will appear asking if the user is sure they want to permanently delete the selected message(s).

Users can delete the messages one at a time by rightclicking on the message and choosing ‘Delete’. Note: Once a message is permanently deleted it is not recoverable.

Empty “Deleted Items” Folder

Deleted Items Folder

Delete

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To automatically empty the Deleted Items folder:

1. Click ‘Tools’, ‘Options’ and then click the ‘Other’ tab.

2. Click on the box next to ‘Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting’.

Tools

Options

Other

Empty the Deleted Items folder upon

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Save attachments outside the mailbox

Attachments can take up a lot of space. If attachments do not need to be stored in the mailbox, don't. Instead, use the ‘Save Attachment’ command on the File menu and save the attachments to a convenient location. Once the attachment has been saved, the message can be deleted (if it is not needed anymore), or rightclick the attachment icon and click Remove to keep the message but remove the attachment.

Before starting to save attachments, ensure a location is thought of for storage.

For example, if the attachment is a photo, save it in a special folder for photos on the H: drive. Also, when the attachment is saved, make sure it is named

something that will help the user to remember its contents and context.

To save an attachment outside the mailbox:

1. Open the message. On the main menu at the top of Outlook, click on

‘File’, ‘Save Attachments’.

File

Save

Attachments

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2. Browse to the location to which the file is to be saved. Click ‘Save’.

3. Either delete the message by clicking the delete button on the toolbar at the top, or remove the attachment by opening the message, right clicking on the attachment and choosing ‘Remove’. By clicking ‘Remove’, the attachment will be removed, but the message will remain.

Delete

Remove

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Archive folders regularly

Keeping sent and received messages can be a useful way to track who said what to whom. However, messages do not necessarily need to be kept in the

mailbox—which is where a copy of the sent and received messages are stored unless archived.

Folders can be archived automatically or manually.

To automatically archive folders:

AutoArchive backs up items automatically by using either the default settings or user specified settings.

To specify default AutoArchive settings for ALL Microsoft Outlook folders:

AutoArchive is turned on by default. However, its default settings can be changed.

1. On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘Options’, and then click the ‘Other’ tab.

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Options

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2. Click ‘AutoArchive’.

Other

Auto Archive

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3. With ‘Run AutoArchive every n days’ selected, specify how often to run AutoArchive.

4. Select the options required. It is recommended that the date be no more than two months previous to today’s date.

5. In the ‘Default folder settings for archiving’ section, click on the ‘Move old items to:’ button and browse to a folder on the H: drive, that way archived messages will be included in the backup process.

Note: The default location for Archive.pst is C:\Documents and

Settings\user name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. A Personal Folders file (.pst) is an Outlook data file that stores items such as email messages, contacts, calendar data, tasks, and notes. If the archive file listed under ‘Move old items to’ location is changed, it is changed for all folders that use the default AutoArchive settings.

6. Warning: If the option to ‘Permanently delete old items’ is chosen, the items will be deleted, not archived. The items will no longer be

recoverable.

7. To apply the changes to all folders, click ‘Apply these settings to all folders now’. This will override custom archive settings specified on individual folders.

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To manually archive a folder:

Go

Folder list Folder list

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2. Click the folder that to be archived. In this example, the folder being archived is Quotes.

3. On the ‘File’ menu, click ‘Archive’.

File

No response is the best response

Users do not need to send an email to say ‘Thank you for the message (or file)’.

This simply adds to the user’s mailbox size as well as to the recipient’s. It is understood that thanks is given.

In addition, do not respond to unsolicited email messages. Throw them away.

Do not respond to junk messages or chain letters. Also, don't click links within this type of email that say things such as "Click here to remove yourself from this mailing list." When users respond or click these "remove me" links, they let the sender know that it is an active email address, and they are more likely to send more of this type of junk email.

To view mailbox and folder sizes

To keep the maintenance of mailboxes to a minimum, it is easy to check how big the mailbox is getting, and thus, how close to the quota. Seeing the mailbox size this way can help identify areas that may need to be cleared of excess

messages.

1. From ‘Folder List’ (which can be reached by clicking ‘Folder List’ on the

‘Go’ menu), click ‘Folder Sizes’ to see the sizes of email folders.

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Folder list

Folder sizes

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2. To see the sizes of the mailbox and the email folders inside it, click

‘Folder Sizes’ on the Navigation Pane. The ‘Folder Size’ dialog box appears and mailbox and folder sizes are displayed.

If users have any questions, please call the Helpdesk on 6194357.

Cleaning out Outlook E mail