Fix Outlook Cleanup Not Working in 6 Ways
Is the Outlook cleanup not working as expected? Don’t worry, you’re not alone here, everyone might fall into this situation. This tool is meant to help you clean up the outdated and large emails in no time, but sometimes it just crashes and doesn’t work. It can be quite frustrating when the feature shows an error and does nothing at all.
This article will cover why the Outlook Cleanup tool is not working and how it can be fixed.
What Does the Outlook Cleanup Tool Do?
The Cleanup Tool helps to manage and reduce the size of your mailbox by removing unnecessary items from it. The task is to delete older messages and large-sized emails by keeping the inbox up-to-date. This can also remove the contents of the deleted and junk email folders to help free up space in the mailbox. By deleting these items, the tool creates space for Outlook-supported files. Moreover, the Clean Up tool allows you to keep your mailbox organized while also increasing Outlook’s overall performance and responsiveness.
Overall, this tool is beneficial for removing redundant email threads from Outlook. Sometimes, the issue of “Outlook cleanup tool not working” can impact both your productivity and mailbox management. Now, let’s understand the causes given below.
Why is Outlook Cleanup Not Removing Duplicates? Common Reasons
Here are several justifications why Outlook cleanup not working:
- Full Deleted or Junk Folders
While using the Cleanup tool, Outlook attempts to send repetitive or duplicate messages to the Deleted Items folder. However, if that folder has already reached its capacity, then it cannot move any additional emails. Likewise, if messages have been flagged as junk and the junk email folder is at capacity, it causes problems. As a result, Outlook Cleanup not working as there is no available space left to remove duplicates.
- Outlook Profile Corruption
A corrupted Outlook profile can cause many issues, including problems with tools like the Clean Up Tool. It causes Outlook cleanup not removing duplicates, thereby becoming slow, having sync issues, or generating errors when attempting to utilize built-in functions.
- Add-In Conflicts
Outlook integrates third-party add-ins that may be beneficial. However, some of these add-ins may conflict with the core features of Outlook. For example, if you installed an add-in that changes how email is handled or if an add-in changes how folder behavior works, then Outlook cleanup will not work properly to identify or move messages.
- Outdated Outlook
Using the older version of Outlook can be problematic at times. And may cause errors like slow performance and compatibility issues, which could result in the Outlook cleanup tool not working. Therefore, the solution is to regularly update Outlook, which will eliminate these problems and improve functionality.
- Permission Problems
If you are clearing up a shared mailbox or the mailbox isn’t yours, then you may not have permission to delete or move emails. This tool requires complete access to that mailbox to work seamlessly.
6 Effective Ways to Fix Outlook Cleanup Not Working
In the aforementioned, we have shared the issues why the Outlook cleanup tool not working. In that consideration, we will discover the basic to advanced fixes to troubleshoot this difficult problem. Below are the effective solutions to try when the Outlook Cleanup feature is not responding properly:
- Restart Your Outlook
- Start Outlook in Safe Mode
- Clear Your Deleted Items and Junk Folders
- Disable Add-Ins
- Update or Repair Microsoft Office
- Create a New Outlook Profile
Now, let’s explain these methods in a detailed manner.
1. Restart Outlook and Your Computer
Sometimes Outlook or your computer has a slight glitch or an error that keeps the Cleanup tool from running correctly. Restarting Outlook and then rebooting your computer can reset the system, which removes errors and often fixes simple problems without you doing anything.
2. Start Outlook in Safe Mode
Starting Outlook in safe mode without any add-ins or unnecessary features may resolve problems caused by conflicts in Outlook. If the cleanup tool works properly when Outlook is in safe mode, then it is clear that any third-party add-ins or unnecessary features are causing the problem, which is preventing Outlook cleanup not working.
3. Empty Your Deleted Items and Junk Folders
The Deleted Items and Junk folders can accumulate a lot of emails; some of these emails might be corrupted, blocked, take up storage space, and may cause issues with the Cleanup tool. Removing items from these folders clears up storage and helps you remove any odd items that may stop the Cleanup tool from functioning properly.
4. Disable Add-Ins
Add-ins can refer to additional tools or extensions that improve usability in Outlook, but some add-ins can cause problems. When you disable add-ins one by one, you will be able to identify an add-in that makes the Cleanup tool fail. Once you identify the add-in, you can always disable or uninstall that tool to fix the issue.
5. Update or Repair Microsoft Office
Outlook is part of Microsoft Office, and sometimes bugs or errors in the software can cause tools like Cleanup to stop working. Updating the system to the latest version can fix these bugs. If that doesn’t work, running the built-in Office repair tool can automatically detect and fix damaged program files.
6. Create a New Outlook Profile
If your Outlook profile becomes corrupted, it can cause various problems, including issues with the Cleanup tool. Creating a new profile resets your account settings fresh and often resolves problems related to a broken or corrupted profile.
Try Advanced Fixes for Outlook Cleanup Not Working
These steps are a little deeper technically, but can solve deeper issues:
1. Run the Inbox Repair Tool (ScanPST)
Outlook stores your e-mail messages in the PST or OST. When the PST or OST becomes corrupt, many Outlook tools, such as Cleanup, won’t function correctly.
What to do:
- Inbox Repair Tool is a built-in feature found in the Outlook installation folder that helps scan and fix Outlook data files.
- Open and run the tool, choose your Outlook data file, and repair.
2. Reinstall Outlook
Uninstalling and reinstalling is a good way to resolve deep-seated problems.
What to do:
- Navigate to Settings > Apps and uninstall Microsoft Office or Outlook.
- You can then reinstall it from your Microsoft account or installation media.
- After the reinstallation, re-add your email account.
Prevent the Issue with Outlook Cleanup Not Working
To reduce problems with Outlook Cleanup, follow the steps given below.
- Regularly Empty Deleted & Junk Folders
- Use the Clean Up Tool to keep your Deleted Items Folder and Junk Email Primary Folder emptied regularly.
- Having a lot of emails in that folder could prevent the usage of the Clean Up Tool from moving messages. If desired, you can even auto-delete them by creating a rule.
- Have the Latest Outlook Version
- Always make sure you are using the latest version of Outlook or Microsoft Office.
- There are frequent updates that will resolve bugs and enhance overall performance.
- Manage your Add-ins
- Add-ins can be useful but may interfere with Outlook tools.
- Be mindful to only keep trusted add-ins and remove the add-ins you do not use.
- Occasional Use of the Inbox Repair Tool
- Every couple of months, run ScanPST.exe and check for hidden errors in your Outlook data files (.pst/.ost).
- Periodical use of ScanPST will keep your files healthy and lessen the chance of corruption.
- Backup Your Outlook Data
- Develop a standard backup of your Outlook files (.pst/.ost).
- If something goes wrong, you may restore your data and prevent the issue with Outlook cleanup not working.
- Avoid Overloading Your Folders
- For best management, do not retain thousands of emails in one folder.
- Divide your emails between several sub-folders or archive older emails.
Best Alternative Use for Outlook Cleanup not Removing Duplicates
If the original cleanup tool is not very effective for you, then try to go with the built-in SysTools Outlook Duplicate Remover Tool. It helps to find and remove duplicates such as emails, contacts, calendar events, journal, and notes from Outlook-supported files. It makes the process much smoother, faster, and smarter!
The Cleanup tool of Outlook helps you by quickly removing redundant messages from your mailbox that are large and keeps only the latest conversations, which helps in reducing email clutter the mails but it is for basic cleanup, while our advanced and professional tool helps in removing the duplicates items from Outlook supported files and makes the output more clear, tidy, and presenatble. Further, it helps you in permanently remove duplicate attachments, which directly reduces the size of the mailbox.
Conclusion
In the above article, we discussed how it is possible to achieve successful results by taking the right steps and preventing the problem of Outlook cleanup not working. Instead of using only free or manual methods and dealing with a problem, you should use a smarter, quicker, and automated solution that helps in managing all your mailboxes from any chaos.
FAQs About Cleaning Up Duplicates in Outlook
Q.1 Does the cleanup tool remove duplicates?
A. Yes, the Cleanup Tool will delete duplicate items such as emails and contacts from Outlook. It goes through folders and removes data according to your preferences. For deeper or massive removal, a dedicated Outlook Duplicate Removal Tool is suggested.
Q.2 Does the Cleanup Tool delete important messages?
A. No, it removes duplicate or redundant emails, not unique messages. It will never delete unread messages or messages that do NOT already exist in other messages. But, to be extra safe, check the Deleted Items folder after using the Cleanup Tool.
Q.3 Why is my Outlook cleanup tool not working?
A. You may not be able to use the Cleanup Tool if the settings are incorrect, or data files in Outlook are corrupt, or the duplicates do not match the criteria of the Cleanup Tool. You can try repairing your Outlook file or using a dedicated duplicate Outlook add-in for better results.