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Mailbox Maintenance Tutorial

Storage Limits | Viewing Mailbox and Folder Sizes | Trim that mailbox down | Personal folders | Auto Archiving

It is very easy to let your mailbox get out of hand and quickly fill up. Having a full mailbox can pose serious problems and should be prevented. If you pass your allotted size limit, your mailbox will be closed until room is made by deleting old email. When your mailbox is closed, you can no longer send or receive any email. There are two simple ways that you can do to help avoid this: Setting up Personal Folders, and Archiving. In this tutorial, you will learn how to check your current mailbox size, take simple steps to trim the size of your mailbox down, and how to use Personal Folders or Archiving.

STORAGE LIMITS

Every mail account has a storage limit.	Students (megabytes)	Employees (megabytes)
Issue Warning	45	245
Prohibit sending mail	N/A	N/A
Prohibit sending and receiving mail	50	250

VIEWING MAILBOX AND FOLDER SIZES

Seeing the mailbox size this way can help you identify areas that you may want to "tone and trim." Folder Sizes is a convenient way to find out how big your mailbox is or how much space a particular folder is taking up.

OUTLOOK 2000 AND OUTLOOK 2002(XP)

• From Folder List (which you can get to by clicking Folder List on the View menu), right click on Outlook Today and click Properties for Outlook Today. From the Properties menu, click Folder Size...

OUTLOOK 2003

• From Folder List (which you can get to by clicking Folder List on the Go menu), click Folder Sizes to see the sizes of your e-mail folders.

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TRIM THAT MAILBOX DOWN

• TIP 1: Empty the Deleted Items folder.
  Every time you delete an e-mail message, it goes into the Deleted Items folder. This folder can grow quickly, so you need to keep cleaning it out.
• TIP 2: Save your attachments outside the mailbox.
  Attachments can take up a lot of space. If you don't need to store them in your mailbox, don't.
• TIP 3: Delete or Archive the Sent Items folder regularly.
  Keeping the messages you send can be a useful way to track who said what to whom. But, you don't necessarily need to keep this kind of record in your mailbox. You can delete the unnecessary sent items or Archive them.

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PERSONAL FOLDERS

Personal Folders allow you to store specific messages locally on your computer. You can organize them however you like, such as putting messages in unique folders.

To set up personal folders, use the following procedure:

• Click New on the File menu. (1)
• Select Outlook Data File. (2)
• Select Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) and click OK. (3)

• Specify the path and name of the .pst. You will want to choose a drive and folder location that is backed up either by yourself or your IT staff. For example, the dean's staff uses C:\MYDATA as their root folder for storing local files that get backed up. Any other location on the C: drive outside of the C:\MYDATA folder is not. If you are unsure of your location for this then check with your IT staff for future assistance.

• You are now given an option for Encryption Settings, and a Password. For greater security you may use these options. Click OK to continue.

• Once you specify a file and folder name, the Personal Folders file is added to your Folder List. The Personal Folders file shown here uses the default name "Personal Folders."
• You can now expand your Personal Folders, and create new unique folders within Personal Folders by right-clicking and selecting New Folder.

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AUTO ARCHIVING

Archiving removes e-mail messages from your mailbox and automatically stores them in folders that have the same names as the folders in your mailbox. There are many benefits to archiving: efficient record keeping, storage space, and a more organized mailbox.

AutoArchive

• To set or change AutoArchive settings, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Other tab, and click AutoArchive.
• By default, AutoArchive is enabled.
• To specify different archive settings for any folder, right-click on the folder and choose Properties, then go to the AutoArchive tab.

For additional assistance, contact Help Desk, or use the Help option in Outlook with keywords "Personal Folders" or "Archiving."

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