Cleaning up Microsoft Outlook

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101179451033.aspx

Thanks! That's not what the software shop did, and maybe I see why. I had to undergo the typical indignant Microsoft reply to asking it to do something--it started to delete the deleted files, then froze, refused to respond, and I had to reboot. Then I had to open Outlook in Safe Mode, which took 20 minutes for it to recompose itself. Finally, it completed the delete delete function, and I got rid of 800MB of files, cutting my total size almost in half.

The computer shop, apparently aware of Microsoft's indignant nature (how dare you ask me to do some work? Just for that, I shall refuse to respond), did essentially the same thing but went directly to the Outlook files to do so, via some arcane path involving a dozen or so accesses that I could not follow.

Thanks again. I can continue to use my Outlook for another six months (Yes, I already auto-Archive but, as you know, it doesn't delete the files)

Oops. I see Outlook is still indignant. It is now refusing to connect to my server. Show me, it will. Gotta go take care of that. Another reboot, I suspect.

I hate Microsoft. Worst software in the whole world. When I hit the lottery, I am taking an ax to my PCs and laptops, then burn them in the back yard, and replace them with Macs.

MS can be pretty frustrating and I think Outlook is probably their poorest app. I've had to do the Format C thing last week due to a nasty viral infection and Outlook just doesn't want to handle blah blah blah - but that's my problem not yours.

I empty my Deleted folder on a regular basis and can verify it by looking at the folder size.

Here's what I do:

- right-click on the Deleted Items folder and click on "Empty Deleted Items folder"

- when finished, right-click on the folder again and click on "Properties" then on "Folder size". It should now say zero bytes

It works for me.

I am not entirely convinced that the emails are actually gone, but they look like they are. I've been bitten twice now, when Outlook refused to process email without any warning, and the computer shop fixed the problem for me. There is some file or folder, buried deep within the system, that hangs on to stuff, no matter if you empty the trash or not. I hope this fixes it but, if it doesn't I won't be surprised.

You could tell whether they were really being deleted by checking the total free space on the drive before & after the operation. [Right-click on the drive under My Computer in the folders pane of Windows Explorer, & select Properties to see the total used & free space].

In Outlook go to 'Tools', 'Options', 'Other tag' & select 'Empty the deleted items folder on exit'. Outlook will then empty deleted items every time you close the programme.

The comment about mail not really being deleted may be true. I use Thunderbird at home & had to re-install windows after a motherboard failure which meant re-installing all the programmes. I managed to track down the folders with my old stored e-mails but was surprised to find all of my old deleted mail as well.

Aha! It's not just me then! Guess I'll find out for sure when Outlook hangs up again, and I have to call the computer shop to get it going. What is wrong with Microsoft anyway? Are they incompetent or just don't care? I can't believe they've made billions off the world's worst software.

Just wondering - do you have Autoarchive enabled? It's reached through the Tools/Options/Others path and it automatically saves all your stuff every so often, so even if you delete from the main folders, portions may have been saved before you did that.

Yes, autoarchive is enabled. I don't khow where it archives the stuff or how to find it if (when) Outlook has its fatal crash, but it's there somewhere. I also periodically backup the system onto a 500 GB CDROM drive. I KNOW where those files are.

The AutoArchive panel shows the location of the files so you should be able to find them there.

I have another issue with Outlook that I "fixed" a few years ago. Outlook automatically saves its folders (.pst) files on the C: drive. I didn't know that at the time. I found out the hard way after a viral attack forced me to re-install Windows (after formatting C) only to discover I had lost all of my outlook data. Fortunately, I had made a copy of my pst file a month or so before, so the damagae was not as bad as it could have been.

Since then, I have a dedicated D: drive for nothing but data, and Outlook is now configured to store its files in a very specific folder. My D: drive is automatically backed up onto another HD every night.