Outlook horror stories
Published: 24 Sep 2004
The incredible shrinking inbox
Here's a common lament: "My Inbox is giving me the squeeze! Every few hours or so, I try to send email, only to be stopped in my tracks by a stupid error message: 'Your mailbox is over its size limit'. I have to waste precious minutes pruning my Inbox and subdirectories while my boss does a slow burn in her office. Finally I'll free up enough space to send the email, only to get the same error again a few hours later! I'm at the end of my tether. Can't my email administrators just up my mailbox limit or something?"
Yes, Outlook seems to derive a cruel pleasure in hitting us with the 'Your mailbox is over its size limit' error just when we're sending the most important email of the day. All too often, we have had to scramble to delete messages, sometimes even trashing mission-critical email in the process. And even if you have no email administrator, Outlook can become unstable if your Inbox grows too big.
Can this nightmare be banished? Here are a couple of tips to help cut your mailbox down to size:
1. Archive your messages
Everyone groans whenever we make this suggestion, but taking the time now to set up your archiving settings will save you grief later. Just follow these steps:
- Right-click your Inbox or a subdirectory, click AutoArchive, and select the 'Archive this folder using these settings' radio button.
- Decide when messages get archived and where to store the archive on your system. This gets your email off the servers that are under the control of the stingy IT people -- who are ultimately responsible for your out-of-space messages to begin with -- and onto your local hard disk. When you've finished setting AutoArchive preferences for all of your directories (and don't forget Sent Items), go to the File menu, select Archive, click the 'Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings' radio button, and click the OK button.
- Once Outlook is finished archiving messages, check to see if your mailbox is below your IT department's size limit. Right-click Personal Folders and click the Folder Size button; if the total size of your folders is larger than what your IT administrators allow, adjust your AutoArchive settings until you fall below the limit.
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