One thing that most people don't realize about Outlook is that it normally keeps all of your email, calendar events, etc. in one file. Plus, when you delete a message, it just gets moved to the "Deleted" folder - it doesn't actually go away. If your Outlook file gets too big, it will make Outlook slow down quite a bit, and can even cause problems with opening the file. Here are some suggestions to help with this (note that the exact method varies from version to version, so I have not included step-by-step instructions):

• Empty your "Deleted" folder periodically
• Compact the data file
• Archive things that you don't need immediate access to. You can create a new data (.pst) file and drag things that you want to save, but don't need all the time, to the new file. You can then close the archive file until you need access to its contents, cutting down on the load on Outlook.

These steps will help to keep your data file small, so that Outlook can access its contents quickly. By archiving older items to another file, you also help to protect against loosing those items - if you have trouble with your primary file, the archived items won't be affected.

Outlook file repair

If your Outlook file gets corrupted, you can try the Outlook repair tool. It should have been installed along with Office, but it is not added to your Start menu. For details, you can visit this page on the Microsoft support web site.