How to Clean Up Your Mailbox

Search for large email messages.

• In Outlook, scroll down to Search Folders on the left side.
• Expand the Search Folders and you will see the default Large Mail folder.
• This will search your mailbox for items that are larger than 100KB and display them
• If you need to save the attachments from these messages, open the item(s) and save the attachment
• Delete the items that you no longer need and this will significantly reduce the size of your mailbox

 

Create Custom Search Folders

 
Like the Large Mail folder you can create additional search folders. A search folder that displays messages older than 120 days can be useful for finding those items that are no longer necessary to keep in your mailbox.

1. 
   
   Create a New Search Folder
   1. Right click the Search Folders item in Outlook and choose New Search Folder

1. 
   
   Create a folder that will find items older than 120 days
   1. 
      
      Scroll to the Organizing Mail section and choose Old Mail
      
      
   2. Click the Choose button to change the range of what will be included
      
   3. Show mail older than 4 months will give us anything older than our target of 120 days.
   4. Click OK on the Old Mail dialog box, and then OK again on the New Search Folder dialog.
   5. Review the items returned in this list and delete any items that you no longer need.

Configure AutoArchiving

 

1. To configure AutoArchiving in Outlook 2007, go to Tools | Options and open the Other Tab. To configure Outlook 2010 click on File | Options | Advanced and click the AutoArchive Settings button.
   
2. The default settings for AutoArchive are to run every 14 days and move old item to an archive file that will be stored on your computer
3. Do NOT archive items to your computer. These will not be backed up and if you need to access this data there is no guarantee that this file will be available when you need it.
4. Set the Clean out item older than to 24 months or greater. This will be the default setting for every folder.
5. For each folder in your mailbox, including the calendar, right click and choose properties
   
6. Click on the AutoArchive tab and set the policy for this folder
   
7. Set each folders policy as needed. Careful planning should be used when configuring AutoArchive to ensure needed data is not archived to a local drive or permanently deleted.

 

Example AutoArchive Settings

 
I have all folders by default set to "Do not archive items in this folder". I use mailbox rules to sort mail as it arrives, so messages that go to groups like alert messages are moved to individual folders. On these individual folders I then set "Archive this folder using these settings" and choose "Permanently delete old items", after specifying an appropriate period of time for these to expire. This combined with Search Folders allows me to easily manage my mailbox size.