Managing the size of your Outlook mailbox

Campus E-Mail Quotas

Each person with a campus mailbox is assigned a quota on the e-mail server so that the server's resources can be shared fairly.

When you begin to approach the limit of your quota, you receive messages from the server informing you of this. When you get close to the limit, the server prevents you from sending any messages until you delete messages from your mailbox. When you exceed the limit, messages addressed to you are no longer delivered, and are returned to the sender with a descriptive error message.

Managing your mailbox

A good way to learn how to manage the size of your mailbox using Microsoft Outlook 2003 is to take the self-paced Microsoft online training course Manage the size of your mailbox.

This web-based course shows you how to find the size of your mailbox folders, how to quickly find large messages, techniques for archiving messages to your local computer and steps you can take to keep e-mail from building up in your server mailbox.  It includes a Quick Reference Card that you can print.

Since the course is self-paced, you can take it on your own, as quickly or slowly as you would like.  It has illustrations and practice sessions. You should use Internet Explorer if you want to make use of the practice sessions.

This web page briefly describes some of the same techniques.

Display your mailbox size

To see how much space your mailbox is using on the campus e-mail server, follow these steps.

Using Outlook 2003,

1. Click "Go" in the menu, and select "Folder List".

2. Click the "Folder Sizes" link.

3. Look at the "Total size (including subfolders)".

Using Outlook 2000,

1. If the folder list is not visible, click "View" in the menu, and select "Folder List".
   
   
2. Right-click "Outlook Today" in the folder list, and select "Properties".
   
   
3. On the General tab, click "Folder Sizes".
   
   
4. Look at the "Total Size (Fld+SubFld)".

The size is expressed in kilobytes (KB).  You can divide this value by 1000 to roughly calculate the size in megabytes (MB).

The size of each folder in your mailbox is also displayed.  You can look through this list to determine which folders are using the most space.

Find large messages

With Outlook 2003, a quick way to find large messages in a folder such as the Inbox is to group messages by size.

1. Click "View" in the menu, click on "Arrange by" and select "Size".

Or you can simply sort messages by size by clicking the "Size" in the folder's column header.  This works in both Outlook 2000 and 2003.  In Outlook 2003, you may need to turn off the Reading Pane first.

By deleting larger messages that you no longer need, you can quickly regain space in your mailbox.

Empty the Deleted Items Folder

When you delete an e-mail message from your Inbox, it is moved to your Deleted Items folder. When you empty your Deleted Items folder, the space occupied by the deleted messages is released. To empty the Deleted items folder, follow this step.

1. Right-click the Deleted Items in the folder list and select "Empty Delete Items Folder".

Delete or Archive Sent Items

When you send a message, a copy is saved in the Sent Items folder. Cleaning out this folder by deleting or archiving its messages can help regain space in your mailbox.

Archive Messages to your local computer

If you normally use one computer (e.g., the one assigned to you as a faculty or staff member), you can archive messages to your local computer using Outlook's AutoArchive feature or by manually moving messages to a Personal Folders (.pst) file.

Note that if you archive messages to your local computer, it is very important that you back up your AutoArchive or Personal Folders .pst file regularly!