How Can I Clean Up My Outlook Mailbox Without Losing Data
“How can I clean up my Outlook mailbox” is one of the most asked queries from most of the Outlook users. If you are using an Outlook email client then after a certain period you will reach the limit of your mailbox storage. However, due to a lack of knowledge, you do not know how and from where to start to clean up the mailbox. This blog is definitely for users like you.
Generally speaking, there are no single methods provided by Microsoft Outlook that help you to clean up your Outlook mailbox. So, after considering the limitations of Microsoft Outlook, we are going to discuss a set of methods that can easily clean up your mailbox effectively.
In addition, there are also technical benefits of cleaning up your mailbox, like a clean mailbox has a much faster loading speed, less clutter in your search results, and also gives you better productivity.
Now that you have an idea of why you should clean up your mailbox, let’s move toward the methods for clearing up the space.
Manual Techniques – How Can I Clean Up My Outlook Mailbox
In this section, we are going to discuss some manual tips and tricks that will easily fulfill the query asked above. But before starting the cleanup process, first, we need to know how full your mailbox is. So, to get an overview of the total size of your Outlook mailbox, follow the mentioned steps:
In Outlook 2010 2013 2016
- First, go to the File menu
- Now, go to section Info >> button Cleanup Tool.
- Select Mailbox Cleanup.
In Outlook 2019
- Go to the File option.
- Now, go to section Info>> Tools
To clean up Outlook mailbox after learning the file size of your mailbox you have a good overview of how big the folder is and how to start the mailbox cleaning process.
Method 1: Manage Sent Items
When you send any emails to someone, then a copy of your messages is saved in the sent folder. So if you have old sent messages that are no longer needed for reference then select all of them and delete them to free up your mailbox size.
Note: Microsoft Outlook also provides an archive service that lets you save the older messages.
Method 2: Remove Junk Emails to Clean Up Outlook Mailbox
If you want to clean up your mailbox space, then always clear your junk email folder in the mailbox. So, to delete items from the junk email folder simply select the junk emails folder option and right-click and select Empty Folder.
Method 3: Empty the Deleted Items Folder
In Outlook, everything you delete winds up in the deleted item folder. If you are not removing items from the deleted folder regularly, then it will consume your mailbox space. Always remember to delete your deleted item folder and the process of emptying is the same as the junk folder.
Method 4: How Can I Clean Up My Outlook Mailbox by Downloading Attachments to my Computer?
Email attachments are one of the major factors that consume most of the space in your mailbox. So to keep an inbox free of clutter, start organizing your attachments by saving them to your computer’s local folder instead of keeping them in Outlook.
If you have a large number of attachments saved in your Outlook and you are having a problem with the saving process, then you can try the Outlook Attachment Extractor Tool.
This tool is a blend of advanced features with a straightforward user interface that helps both technical and non-technical users to clean up Outlook mailboxes and save multiple attachments from Outlook to their local system or folder. Also, the software supports Outlook PST, OST, MSG, and BAK files.
Note: To know the Working Step CLICK HERE
Method 5: Remove Duplicate Items from the Mailbox
Duplicate items in the mailbox are one of the main culprits that are responsible for filling your mailbox and making it oversized. So, it is important to delete your duplicate items from the mailbox. Duplicate item creates various problems like slow processing speed, software freezing, and sometimes Responding Issue.
So, to answer “How can I clean up my Outlook mailbox”, it is very important to delete duplicates from the mailbox, and to delete duplicate items, you can use the Microsoft inbuilt option that is known as the Clean Up tool. By deleting duplicates from your mailbox can reduce the size of the mailbox by approx. 35%.
We said above duplicate items are the main culprits in increasing the size of a mailbox or we suggest a Microsoft Outlook inbuilt utility to delete duplicates. But the Clean Up utility is not guaranteed, that it will clean up your Outlook mailbox by removing all the duplicates from your mailbox.
So, if you want a surety while removing duplicates from your mailbox, try an automated solution i.e., Outlook Duplicate Items Remover.
This tool is a combination of advanced features and an easy user interface that helps both technical and non-technical users. The software is capable of removing duplicates from mailbox items such as email, contacts, calendars, tasks, journals, and notes and supports Outlook PST, OST, and BAK files.
Also Read: Delete Duplicate Contacts in Outlook
Conclusion
As we said above how can I clean up my Outlook mailbox is one of the most asked and searched queries from Outlook users. Because an oversized mailbox can affect your Outlook application and data in various manners in some cases you may encounter data corruption or program freezing issues and these issues will affect your workflow.
So, it is very important to clean up your mailbox from time to time to improve your workflow or your application productivity. Therefore, in this article, we have discussed some tips that will surely help you to clear up space in your webmail.
Frequently Asked Question
Q 1: How can I quickly declutter my Outlook inbox?
Ans: Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, go to File, then Info, then Cleanup Tools, then Mailbox Cleanup. Outlook 2016, 2019, Office 365 – Go to File, Info, Tools, and then Mailbox Cleanup. 2. Choose View Mailbox Size to get a list of all of your mailbox folders and their sizes.Q 2: How can I erase emails from 6 months ago in Outlook?
Ans: Above the search box, select the Old Mail filter. Modify the default Older than 6 months filter to your liking, and then choose the messages you want to manage. If you want to delete all messages older than the time you just chose, click Select All.Q 3: How can I get rid of Microsoft storage?
- Select Settings > System > Storage from the Start menu. Navigate to the Storage tab.
- Select Configure Storage Sense or execute it now, and then choose when you want each type of file destroyed under Temporary Files.
- To eliminate unwanted files manually, scroll down and click Clean now under Free up space now.
