How To Fix Outlook high Memory Usage on Windows PC

Most Outlook users complain about slow performance. This is because Outlook consumes more memory space and hence it becomes slow when used. Outlook stores a copy of its items like emails, calendars, events, etc in a data file which is also huge. Anyways do not worry if you are one among those who are facing the issue. If you clean up the space in Outlook by deleting junk emails, auto archiving, disabling the add-ins, deleting unwanted emails and attachments, etc frequently helps to increase the space in Outlook and maintain its performance. In this article, we do have a few methods that are useful and can be applied to reduce Outlook memory usage and fasten the performance. Let us start!

Method 1 – Enable Auto Archive Option

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Go to the file tab

 

file 2

 

Step 3 – The info tab will open by default. On the right side, click on the Tools drop-down

Step 4 – From the appeared list click on mailbox cleanup

 

tools 1

 

Step 5 – Click the view mailbox size button and check the mailbox size

 

view size

 

Step 6 – If the mailbox size is more than 500MB then click on AutoArchive. This will move the old items to the archive file in the computer

 

auto archive

 

Step 7 – Also delete the large emails that are no longer needed. Then click on empty button. This will remove the deleted items permanently and makes some space



 

empty

 

Step 8 – Alternatively you can move the old emails to another folder so that the inbox will have more space for new emails.

 

Method 2 – Keep The Required Add-ins And Disable Others

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Click on the file tab at the top left corner

 

file 3

 

Step 3 – On the left, click on options

 

options 1

 

Step 4 – In the opened window, select add-ins at the left

 

add ins

 

Step 5 – Below in the manage section, select COM Add-ins from the dropdown and click on Go button

 

go

 

Step 6 – In the COM Add-ins window, keep (enable) the Add-ins that are essential (a tick mark should be present in the checkbox beside add-ins)

Step 7 – Disable the rest of the unused add-ins by clicking on the checkbox beside them (a tick mark should not be present in the checkbox)

 

disable 1

 

Step 8 – To save the changes click on ok

 

Method 3 – If You Are Not Using The Speech Recognition Feature Disable It

Outlook is bundled with Speech Recognition feature. Whenever the Outlook launches, the speech recognition feature also loads along with it if enabled and also scans the emails. So if you do not use this feature disable it.

Step 1 – Open the run prompt using Windows + R keys together

Step 2 – Type control in the run prompt and hit enter. This will open the control panel

 

control 1

 

Step 3 – In the view by dropdown select large icons

 

large icons 1

 

Step 4 – Click on speech recognition

 

speech recognition

 

Step 5 – At the left side, click on advanced speech options

 

adavnced speech

 

Step 6 – Under user settings uncheck the option Review documents and mail to improve accuracy (a tick mark should not be present in the checkbox)

 

review docs

 

Step 7 – To save the changes click on apply and ok 

 

Method 4 – Delete All Items From Junk And Trash Folders

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – At the left side there will be junk , trash etc folders

 

junk email

 

Step 3 – Click on those folders select all the items and click on delete

 

Method 5 – Reduce The Size Of Your Outlook Data File

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Go to the file tab at the top left corner

 

file 3

 

Step 3 – By default info tab will be opened, at the right side click on account settings dropdown then from the list click on account settings

 

account settings 2

 

Step 4 – Go to the data files tab

Step 5 – Double click on your valid email account

 

data files

 

Step 6 – Go to the advanced tab

Step 7 – Click on Outlook data file settings button

 

advanced 1

 

Step 8 – Click on compact now button

 

compact now 2

 

Method 6 – Disable Outlook From Indexing

 

If the indexing option for Outlook is enabled and if you have large Outlook files then the performance would slow down. To reduce the size, disable indexing for Outlook or delete and rebuild the index.

Step 1 – Open the run prompt using Windows + R keys together

Step 2 – Type control in the run prompt and hit enter. This will open the control panel

 

control 1

 

Step 3 – In the view by dropdown select large icons

 

large icons 1

 

Step 4 – Click on indexing options

 

blank

 

Step 5 – In the opened window, click on modify

 

modify

 

Step 6 – In changed selected locations section, uncheck Microsoft Outlook by clicking on the checkbox beside it (a tick mark should not be present)

 

uncheck outlook

 

Step 7 – Then click on ok

Step 8 – Alternatively, in the indexing options window click on advanced button

 

advanced button

 

Step 9 – In the index settings tab under troubleshooting section click on rebuild button. This will delete and rebuild the index

 

rebuild

 

Step 10 – Then click on ok

 

Method 7 – Remove RSS Feeds And Use A Different Program For It If Needed

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Go to the file tab at the top left corner

 

file 3

 

Step 3 – By default info tab will be opened, at the right side click on account settings dropdown then from the list click on account settings

 

account settings 2

 

Step 4 – Go to the RSS Feeds tab

 

rss feeds

 

Step 5 – Select the existing feeds and click on remove

You can use other online or offline RSS feeds rather than Outlook if needed. This way you can reduce the consumed space of Outlook.

 



Method 8 – Enable Cached Exchange Mode Option

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Go to the file tab at the top left corner

 

file 3

 

Step 3 – In the info tab click on account settings dropdown and then click on account settings

 

account settings 2

 

Step 4 – Go to the email tab and double click on your account

 



email 3

 

Step 5 – In the exchange account settings window, click on more settings button

 

more settings

 

Step 6 – Then go to the advanced tab

 

advanced 2

 

Step 7 – Enable Use cached exchange mode option by clicking on the checkbox beside it (a tick mark should be present in the checkbox)

 

cache

 

Step 8 – To save the changes click on apply and ok.

 

Method 9 – Remove Antivirus Plugin From Outlook

 

Step 1 – Open the Outlook app

Step 2 – Click on the file tab at the top left corner

 

file 3

 

Step 3 – On the left, click on options

 

options 1

 

Step 4 – In the opened window, select add-ins at the left

 

add ins

 

Step 5 – Below in the manage section, select COM Add-ins from the dropdown and click on Go button

 

go

 

Step 6 – Choose the anti-virus plugin that you have installed like Bitdefender, McAfee etc

Step 7 – Then click on remove button

 

remove 2

 

Step 8 – To save the changes click on ok

Step 9 – Close the Outlook and relaunch it.

That’s it! I hope the above provided information is helpful and easy to follow. Do share with us if you have different other ideas. Thank you and happy reading!!