How to Reduce Mailbox Size in Outlook: Explained Guide
Management of mailbox size in MS Outlook is important as it ensures high & smooth performance, avoids corruption, and to be in storage capacity. You might be noticing, sometimes Outlook isn’t working, is slow, full of bugs and errors. So, in this article, we’ll discuss how to reduce Outlook mailbox size using both manual and automated methods effectively and efficiently.
Before moving to the technicalities, let’s know the exact answer to how to reduce Outlook mailbox size. We can increase Outlook mailbox size by deleting unwanted emails, attachments, and folders, using the Outlook cleanup tool, archiving old emails, and compacting large PST files. All manual methods require Outlook installation.
If you don’t want to download the Outlook application and also shrink the size without losing original information and data, then you should go for the automatic solution to split PST file into smaller parts or compress the size.
All the methods with possible information are explained in the upcoming sections, so read the complete article first and then choose the best technique for you.
Why is Reducing Outlook Mailbox Size Important?
If the mailbox size is becoming bigger & bigger, Outlook may stop working, performance might slow down, or even crash while working on it. So, before getting into the solution, know why there is a need to reduce PST file size:
- It improves performance, as when the mailbox is smaller than it will load more quickly and run very smoothly.
- Reducing Outlook storage leads to the prevention of corrupted PST or OST files.
- When we decrease the Outlook mailbox size, it avoids errors like Outlook mailbox full or mailbox is becoming full, time to upgrade to a larger mailbox.
- When there is a small PST file, it becomes easier to manage in migration or taking a backup.
How to Check Outlook Inbox Size?
Before starting with any method to reduce Outlook mailbox size, it is important to check the actual size of the mailbox to understand the issue properly. Here are some steps to continue the process:
- Navigate to Outlook
- Go to File, click Tools, and then Mailbox Cleanup
- Press on View Mailbox Size.
- Find out the size of each folder manually for the total size of the Outlook mailbox.
Now you have clearly understood where and which Outlook folders are consuming your storage space, like spam, inbox, sent, etc.
5 Effective Methods to Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size
Many ways can help in reducing Outlook mailbox size; some are given below:
- Delete Unnecessary Emails and Attachments
- Use Outlook Cleanup Tool
- Archive Old Emails
- Compact Outlook PST File
- Using an Automated Method
#1: Delete Unwanted Emails & Attachments
This is the fastest and simplest way to increase Outlook PST file size. If your Outlook mailbox contains unwanted and unnecessary emails and attachments, then just delete them by following the given steps:
- Open your Outlook account.
- Find your emails & attachments through filters and sorting.
- Delete the unwanted data from here.
- Head to the “Trash” folder.
- And delete all your data permanently from here.
Recommend: How to Delete Multiple Emails in Outlook?
Cons:
- As it’s a manual method, there might be a risk of accidental deletion of data.
- It is a very time-consuming method for reducing Outlook mailbox size.
#2: Using Cleanup Tool
If your Outlook data file reached maximum size, then using an in-built cleanup tool is another right way to reduce Outlook mailbox size without deleting anything.
- In Outlook, choose the “File” tab.
- Select the “Tools” >> “Mailbox Cleanup”.
- Select the “View Mailbox Size” from the cleanup window.
- And now you can analyze how much and which folder has taken up the storage space.
- Now you can find the large or old emails using the filters.
- Also, you can choose the “AutoArchive” to move your old emails into a separate PST file.
- Clean your “Trash” and “Junk” folders, because the Junk folder contains promotional and spam emails that are not so important for anyone.
- Find the large attachments and remove them to increase Outlook mailbox size.
Cons:
- It only works for emails, not other messages.
- This method doesn’t make other attached files reduced in size.
#3: Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size by Archiving Emails
Archiving your old emails and messages is another better technique to increase your mailbox size. If your mailbox contains old but important emails, then you just archive them into separate PST files. Follow the given steps:
- Open your Outlook.
- Select the “File” tab from the top.
- Choose the “Info” >> “Tools” >> “Clean Up Old Items” options.
- Now select the “Archive this folder and all subfolders”.
- Select the needed folder to archive as per choice.
- Also, you can set a date range like “Archive Items Older Than”.
- Browse the location to save the output archived emails.
- Lastly, choose the “OK” icon to start the process to reduce Outlook mailbox size.
Cons
- All emails that have been archived are stored separately in different folders.
- This method cannot be done automatically unless it’s set.
#4: How to Compact Outlook Mailbox PST File?
- Go to File, then click on “Account Settings”.
- Press on “Data Files” button.
- Choose your Outlook file, navigate to “Settings”, and then “Compact Now”.
Cons:
- This effect becomes zero if space isn’t removed first.
#5: Automatic Solution to Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size
Download SysTools PST Compress Tool to make your file smaller and manageable. This software allows you to compact a PST file in a few seconds without shifting any data structure. It keeps everything intact. It has a user-friendly interface so that users don’t face any problems. Also, it provides multiple different settings and filters, which makes your Outlook mailbox smaller.
Important Note: This software can increase Outlook mailbox size by removing linked attachments from the emails and allows you to save them separately locally. If you don’t want to remove attachments from the data, then download the other alternate solution.
#6: Other Alternate Solution to Reduce Email Size
The SysTools PST Splitter Tool is the best solution for those users who don’t want to delete any email and other folders, and also, they don’t have Outlook installed. Then, you should download the above-mentioned software.
This tool can easily break your file for better management by many filters, like size, folder, date, email address, etc. It allows you to prevent files from corruption, as the file is already very large without losing any data or folder hierarchy.
Not only this, but you can even contact us through live chat support for any help or to customize the solution according to your needs to reduce Outlook mailbox size.
Steps for Increasing Mailbox Size without Deleting
- Install and run the automated software on your system.
- Click “Add files” and “folders” to upload supported files.
- Select the “Split Option” by size, date, year, folder, email address, and category.
- Check the “Summary” and then press the “Next” button.
- And the live process will start on the screen, and finally, choose the “OK” button.
Note: Many users are facing the problem of duplication of emails in their mailboxes, which results in storage space issues and slows down performance in Outlook. So to prevent these issues and to increase Outlook mailbox size, you should use SysTools Outlook Duplicate Remover software, which helps to delete the duplicates and reduce the PST data file size.
Best Practices to Manage and Reduce Outlook Mailbox Size
Some top ways to keep your Outlook mailbox size under control are as follows:
- You are required to archive your MS Outlook mailbox quarterly or monthly, as per your usage.
- Always keep and save your attachments to the server or your system instead of your emails.
- If a lot of spam emails are arriving in your Outlook mailbox, then you should use filters to sort and manage them.
- If you want to permanently delete, then don’t forget to empty from deleted items folder in Outlook.
Final Words
In this article, we have discussed the possible top six methods to reduce Outlook mailbox size, including manual and automatic techniques. You can resolve the issue by removing unwanted emails and attachments, using the built-in cleanup tool, archiving old but important emails, and compacting Outlook data files.
Also, we have explained two different types of automatic solutions, so you can choose one according to your requirements. Neither solutions don’t require any third-party tool installation like MS Outlook. The manual method contains a high risk of losing data and other drawbacks, so choosing software would be a better option.
We are available 24*7 hours, you can contact us freely through live chat support. We hope you find the article helpful.