You may experience performance problems when you are working with items in a large .pst file or in a large .ost file in Outlook 2007
SYMPTOMS
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 momentarily stops responding during typical operations. This includes when you read e-mail messages, move e-mail messages, or delete e-mail messages.
These symptoms are most noticeable during mail delivery or during synchronization. These symptoms become more pronounced as store size increases. They are more likely to occur when the size of the .pst file or the size of the .ost file approaches 2 gigabytes (GB). Additionally, they are more pronounced in a very large .pst file or in a very large .ost file that is 4 GB or larger.
Note When you perform the same operations in earlier versions of Outlook, the same performance problems do not occur if the .pst file or the .ost file is large.
CAUSE
To accommodate new features, Outlook 2007 introduced a new data structure for .pst files and for .ost files. In this new data structure, the frequency of writing data to the hard disk increases as the number of items in the .pst files or in the .ost files increases.
Note You cannot create a .pst file or an .ost file without this new data structure.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, install the update that is described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
933493
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933493/)
Description of the update for Outlook 2007: April 13, 2007
Update 933493 is available to improve the general responsiveness of Outlook 2007 during common operations. These operations include reading, moving, deleting, and downloading e-mail messages for users who have large mailbox files (.pst files and .ost files) that are stored on their computers. From a technical perspective, this update optimizes the pattern in which Outlook 2007 writes to a large .pst file or to a large .ost file. This results in a reduction of disk access.
This update for Outlook 2007 is part of our continued commitment to improving our customers' product experiences. We are aware that some customers have encountered performance issues when they run Outlook 2007. This update incorporates several performance improvements. This update is designed to do the following:
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Reduce the time that is required to copy or to move messages from one folder to another folder.
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Increase the download speed when you download messages.
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Reduce the time that is required to delete messages.
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MORE INFORMATION
You can also use one of the following methods to resolve or minimize this problem.
Method 1: Reduce the size of the Exchange mailbox
If you reduce the size of the Exchange mailbox, the size of the .ost file will also be reduced. To reduce the size of the Exchange mailbox, do one or more of the following:
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Delete items in your mailbox.
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Archive items in your mailbox to one or more .pst files.
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You can delete items or archive items manually. Alternatively, you can use Mailbox Cleanup. To use Mailbox Cleanup in Outlook 2007, click
Mailbox Cleanup
on the
Tools
menu. In the
Mailbox Cleanup
dialog box, you can use any one of the following features:
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View mailbox size.
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Find items that are older than a specified number of days.
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Find items that are larger than a specified size.
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Move old items to the archive file by clicking
AutoArchive
.
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Empty the deleted items folder.
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Delete all alternative versions of items in the mailbox.
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Method 2: Split your large .pst file into several smaller .pst files
Outlook 2007 does not have a built-in function to split a .pst file into multiple .pst files. Therefore, you have to use one of the following steps to split a large .pst file:
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1.
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Use the Archive feature to move items to a new .pst file. To do this, follow these steps:
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a.
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In Outlook 2007, select your .pst file in the navigation pane.
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b.
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On the
File
menu, click
Archive
.
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c.
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In the
Archive
dialog box, click to select the
Archive this folder and all subfolders
check box, and then click a folder from the list.
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d.
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In the
Archive items older than
drop-down box, click a date.
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e.
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Click
Browse
, specify a path and a file name for the new .pst file, and then click
OK
.
Note The new .pst file is displayed in the
Mail Folders
list as
Archive Folders
.
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If you want to change the display name for this .pst file, follow these steps:
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a.
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Right-click
Archive Folders
, and then click
Properties
.
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b.
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In the
Archive Folders Properties
dialog box, click
Advanced
.
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c.
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In the
Personal Folders
dialog box, enter the new display name in the
Name
box.
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d.
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Click
OK
two times to return to Outlook.
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2.
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Use the
Move to Folder
feature to move items to a new .pst file. To do this, follow these steps:
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a.
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On the
File
menu, point to
New
, and then click
Outlook Data File
.
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b.
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In the
New Outlook Data File
dialog box, click
Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)
, and then click
OK
.
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c.
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Specify a path and a file name for the new .pst file.
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d.
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In the
Create Microsoft Personal Folders
dialog box, specify the display name of the .pst file in the
Name
box. This is the name that is used by Outlook in the
Mail Folders
list.
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e.
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In the folder that contains the items that you want to move to a new .pst file, click one or more items to move.
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f.
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On the
Edit
menu, click
Move to Folder
.
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g.
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In the
Move Items
dialog box, click
New
.
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h.
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In the
Create New Folder
dialog box, enter a name for the new folder in the
Name
box.
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i.
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Under
Select where to place the folder
, click the new .pst file, and then click
OK
.
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j.
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In the
Move Items
dialog box, make sure that the new folder in the new .pst file is selected, and then click
OK
.
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