My Outlook Database is Too Large! Part 2

Wow... Talk about anticipation and I think I may have hit a nerve.

For all of those who asked the question: "Archiving Outlook emails is NOT the same thing as Compressing the Outlook database." I think I should have been much clearer on the subject line. A better word might have been Compacting rather than compressing.

Basically, every time we delete an email or other Outlook items and then purge the Deleted Items folder, the Outlook becomes cluttered with Blank Spaces where the deleted emails once were located. Over time, these blank spaces will take more and more room on your hard drive. Eventually, the sheer size of your Outlook data file will slow down Outlook.

So how does a person compress (Compact) his Outlook data file?

Before we get into that, just a few precautions.

• Make sure you close other running programs, except this blog
• Make sure you have a regular backup of your Outlook data file
• Give yourself time, Compacting a data file can take time to finish, don't interrupt the process

In Outlook 2003 and 2007, there are several ways of going about this. I will concentrate on a 7 click process which is common to both versions. Screens will be a little different but indicate the same markers. These steps come from my Outlook 2007 version. Close your other applications and open Outlook.

1. Click on "Tools"
2. Click on "Options"
3. Click on the "Mail Setup" tab
4. Click on "Data Files"
5. Click on the data file you wish to compress (Main one is "Default")
6. Click on "Settings"
7. Click on "Compact Now"

There you go ... Or, just follow the instructions in the following video.

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