How to Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size in Outlook 2019, 2016, and 2013?
Summary- This article gives a comprehensive overview of how to reduce Outlook mailbox size. It includes step-by-step methods to help you manage your mailbox efficiently, freeing up space and improving performance.
Introduction
It’s common to have a large Outlook mailbox since Microsoft Outlook is a platform that both technical and non-technical users heavily rely on to manage their data—such as emails, calendar entries, tasks, notes, and more. As this data accumulates over time, it becomes necessary to reduce the size of Outlook mailbox.
Despite MS Outlook being such a stand-alone application, it has some limitations when it comes to the storage and management of huge data. A mailbox file is a database file where all this data is stored and even though users have data in huge amounts, mailbox file has their own size limit (20 GB for Outlook 2007 & 2003 and 50 GB for Outlook 2010 & above).
Moving to the methodologies on how to reduce size of PST file, there are multiple manual, as well as automated techniques that we can use to reduce the size of Outlook and get rid of these large Outlook mailbox problems.
Why Do We Need To Reduce Mailbox Size in Outlook?
An oversized Outlook mailbox file is not good for users as it can harm both MS Outlook as well as user’s data. The enormous mailbox size can cause several problems such as email clients crashing, hanging, freezing, and even loss of all your data.
Down below is a listed description of all the harms that a large mailbox file can cause:
- Mailbox File Corruption: There is a high chance that your file might get corrupted due to a large Outlook mailbox, which is not a good sign. Therefore, you must reduce the size of your Outlook mailbox to avoid corruption.
- Data Loss: The most disturbing outcome of an overlarge Outlook file is data loss. A corrupted file that has exceeded data is prone to data loss. In the worst case, it might be possible that the user may lose all of their precious data.
- Degraded Performance: Due to the over-large Outlook data file, Outlook becomes slower and less responsive. You might have to wait for a couple of minutes to open a single file, or there are high chances of Outlook getting crashed.
- Less Productivity: A slower Outlook will definitely provide less output, which will ultimately increase your work time, making it less productive.
These all factors make the giant mailbox file a major problem.
How to Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size?
There are several methods to get the solution on how to reduce the size of Outlook mailbox. In fact, MS Outlook itself provides several inbuilt methods to reduce mailbox size. Other than just selecting messages and deleting them one by one, we can use Mailbox Clean Up, Compact Now, Auto Compact, Archive Old Messages, Delete attached files, and many more.
In the upcoming section, we will cover all the manual methods one by one. So, let’s move forward and analyze the methods to reduce mailbox size in Outlook 2016 and other versions.
Method 1. Archive the Old Emails in Outlook
As the name suggests, you can archive your old Outlook emails by moving them from the Outlook mailbox to the archive file. Start with opening your MS Outlook and then, follow the steps given below.
- Step 1. Firstly, Visit the File tab >> Info.
- Step 2. Click on Tools option >> Clean Up Old Items.
- Step 3. A pop box “Archive” will show up, select Archive this folder and all subfolders option >> choose the file/folder to archive.
- Step 4. Check the option to include items with “Do not Auto Archive” to archive the files that you do not want to include in automatic archiving.
- Step 5. Lastly, Hit OK.
Method 2. Use the “Compact Now” Feature
This method is a power pack built-in tool in MS Outlook and is used often by users to reduce Outlook mailbox size. It compresses the PST as well as the OST file by removing the unused space, helping to optimize performance.
How to reduce mailbox size in Outlook 2016, 2013, and 2010
- Step 1. Firstly, Open Outlook and Go to the File tab.
- Step 2. Next, Select Info >> Account Settings >> then Account Settings again
- Step 3. Go to Data Files >> Settings >> choose the targeted file >> press Compact Now.
- Step 4. Lastly, Click OK, and exit.
Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size without Deleting in Outlook 2007, 2003?
- Step 1. Firstly, Visit File tab >> Data File Management
- Step 2. Double click on Data Files >> select targeted file >> Settings >> Compact Now.
- Step 3. Lastly, Hit OK, and exit.
Method 3. Reduce the Size of Outlook Mailbox with the Mailbox Clean-Up Tool
Try cleaning your heavy Outlook mailbox with the Mailbox Clean Up utility. Make sure to follow the step-by-step guide carefully.
- Step 1. Firstly, Click on File tab >> Info.
- Step 2. Choose Tools >> Mailbox Cleanup.
- Step 3. Lastly, Multiple options can be seen here like View Mailbox Size, Find Items Older than, Find Items Larger than, View Deleted Items Size, Empty Deleted Items, View Conflicts Size, and Empty Conflict.
You can choose any of these options as you need.
Limitations of the Above Method
Though the methods mentioned above can effectively reduce your Outlook mailbox size, they come with certain limitations:
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- Data Accessibility: Archiving emails makes accessing older messages inconvenient, as they are stored separately.
- Time-Consuming Process: Compacting can take considerable time, making Outlook less usable during the process.
- Risk of Data Corruption: Interruptions during the Compact Now process may lead to data corruption if there are underlying issues with the file.
- User Effort Required: All methods necessitate user diligence and consistent management to prevent future overload.
Being aware of these limitations helps users approach mailbox management more effectively and avoid potential pitfalls.
Method 4. Best Solution to Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size
There are two professional tools available that can help us reduce the size of Outlook mailboxes without deleting Outlook files. In the below section, we are going to discuss the process of reducing Outlook mailbox size in detail by using both tools one by one.
(1) Compact the Outlook File
It is an expert solution to deal with extremely large mailbox files. The software covers all the areas where the above manual methods fail to work. Manual methods are the right choice when we have to reduce the size of Outlook mailbox to a really small amount. A very large Outlook mailbox file, say 1TB is hard to get compacted via all the manual methods. In such cases, it is advised to use this trustworthy tool to compact PST files. This software is designed with a user-friendly interface that provides the desired result in a few simple steps, as follows:
Step 1 – First, Download and Run the Software.
2 – “Add File” or “Folder” to reduce the size of the file.
3- Select the required Compression option: “Remove” or “Extract“.
4 – Lastly, click the “Next” button to start file compression and after the process down click on the OK button.
(2) Separate Outlook mailbox Files
If you are looking for a proficient solution on how to reduce Outlook mailbox size without deleting Outlook files, the Split PST Tool is the best way to do it. The software is built with breakthrough algorithms that make it highly capable of reducing Outlook mailboxes of any size within a short period. Also, the tool doesn’t modify or harm any of the user’s data. This tool is easy to use and works quickly in the simple steps given below.
1 – First, Install and run the software into the system.
2 – Secondly, “Add files” / folder(s) and browse “Destination Path” to save resultant files.
3 – Thirdly, Select the desired “Split Option” (split by Size, Date, Year, Folder, Email ID & Category).
4 – Fourthly, Check the Summary of Split Information and click “Next” to proceed.
5 – Lastly, the splitting process has been completed.
Advanced Features of Automated Tool
- Separate file by Size, Folder, Date, Year, Email ID, and Category.
- Allow to add single or multiple file/folder(s).
- MS Outlook installation is not required while using the Tool.
- Provide CSV of the user’s email ID(s) to split files by multiple emails.
- Break Outlook files by size from 1 MB to 1 TB.
- The tool supports all editions of MS Outlook.
Conclusion
Reduce Outlook mailbox size is not an exhausting task if done with perfect planning and the right choice. Moreover, there have been instances where the huge Outlook mailbox was compressed successfully using basic manual methods. On the other hand, the automated solution for reducing Outlook mailbox size is more secure and quick. It is also the best choice when we have to compress a very large Outlook data file.
FAQs
Q. What to do if the Outlook mailbox is full?
- Delete unnecessary emails and attachments.
- Archive old emails to free up space.
- Use the Mailbox Clean-Up tool to identify large items.
- Compact the mailbox to reduce its size.
- Consider increasing mailbox storage if using an Exchange server.
Q. Does archiving emails free up space in Outlook?
- Yes, archiving moves old emails to a separate file, reducing the size of the primary mailbox.
Q. What is the mailbox size limit exceeded in Outlook?
- For Outlook 2007 and 2003: 20 GB.
- For Outlook 2010 and later: 50 GB.
- Exceeding these limits can lead to performance issues and data corruption.