Outlook 2007 Performence Issue

How to troubleshoot performance issues in Outlook 2007


1. Minimal computer specifications

When upgrading from Microsoft Office 2003 to the 2007 release you should not need to upgrade your hardware, although you may need to upgrade to a supported operating system.

Office 2007 Microsoft Office system programs client is a 32-bit application and can run on a Windows 64-bit platform (Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista)
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2. Are you running the latest version of Outlook 2007

Outlook 2007 SP1 includes the changes from the performance update and from the Business Contact Manager update that is mentioned in this topic.

3. Do you have a large .pst file or a large .ost file?

If you have a large .pst file or a large .ost file, you may experience performance issues during typical operations in Outlook.
These typical operations include reading e-mail messages, moving e-mail messages, and deleting e-mail messages.
• hardware.
• Between 2 GB and 4 GB: This size is typically hardware dependent. Therefore, if you have a fast hard disk and much RAM, your experience will be better. However, slower hard drives, such as drives that are typically found on portable computers, experience some application stops when the drives respond.
• More than 4 GB: This size is where short pauses begin to occur on most hardware.
• Very large, such as 10 GB or larger: This size increases the frequency of the short pauses, especially while you are downloading new e-mail. You can use Send/Receive groups to manually sync your mail. This synchronization minimizes changes in the local data file during heavy e-mail usage. For more information about how to manage Outlook synchronization, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052421871033.aspx (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052421871033.aspx)
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP030829231033.aspx


4. Are you running a computer that has a Solid State Drive (SSD)?

f you are running Outlook 2007 on a computer that has a solid state drive (SSD), you may experience frequent pauses when you perform typical operations in Outlook. The Outlook product team is aware of this issue and is investigating solutions for a future release.

5. Do you have many items in a single folder?

If you have a large number of items in any single folder, you may experience performance issues during certain operations in Outlook. The performance issue is especially noticeable when you switch into and out of that folder. Generally, when 10,000 items or more items are in a single folder, these issues can occur.

We recommend that you move several items in these larger folders to separate folders in the same store or to an archive store.

6. Do you have any nonessential add-ins or out-of-date add-ins that are installed in Outlook?

1. In Outlook, click Trust Center on the Tools menu.
2. Click Add-ins to display a list of the COM add-ins that are installed.
By default, the following COM add-ins are included in the 2007 Office system:
• Microsoft Access Outlook Add-in for Data Collection and Publishing
• Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging
• Microsoft Office Groove Proxy for Outlook Add-in
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Colleague Import Add-in
• Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile Service
• Microsoft VBA for Outlook Add-in
• OneNote Notes about Outlook Items
• Windows Search E-mail Indexer

7. Did you install any gadgets that integrate with Outlook? (Windows Vista)


On a Windows Vista-based computer, remove any gadgets that you downloaded to show your Outlook data. For example, this data may include the Outlook calendar, Outlook tasks, Outlook mail, and Outlook contacts. To remove gadgets on a Windows Vista-based computer, follow these steps:
1. Click Start
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, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Control Panel Home.
3. Click Programs.
4. Click Windows Sidebar Properties.
5. In the Maintenance section, click View list of running gadgets.
6. Click any gadget that you want to disable, and then click Remove.

8. Is Outlook integration with Communicator enabled?

By default, Outlook includes feature integration with Microsoft Office Communicator. The features that Outlook and Communicator share relate primarily to presence information such as whether someone is busy, away, or in a meeting. To disable feature integration, follow these steps:
1. In Outlook, click Options on the Tools menu.
2. Click the Other tab, click to clear the Display online status next to a person name check box under Person Names, and then click OK.
3. Restart Outlook.
9. Is antivirus software running?
your antivirus software includes integration with Outlook, you may experience performance issues in Outlook. In this case, you can disable all Outlook integration within the antivirus software. Or, you can disable any antivirus software add-ins that are installed in Outlook.

You may have to contact the antivirus manufacturer to determine how to configure the antivirus software to exclude any integration with Outlook or to exclude scanning in Outlook.

Did you install Windows Desktop Search on a Windows XP-based computer or install Outlook on a Windows Vista-based computer?

indows Desktop Search (WDS) will index all data in .ost files and in .pst files. However, the indexing of Outlook data occurs only when Outlook is running. Therefore, you may have to leave Outlook running overnight to determine whether the performance issues were related to the building of your search indexes.

Performance issues may increase when Outlook is running in online mode. Such performance issues occur because running Outlook in online mode increases the load on the Exchange Server. This performance issue is especially noticeable when more than one user indexes the Outlook data at the same time by using Windows Desktop Search.

To determine the indexing status for Outlook data, follow these steps:
1. In Outlook, point to Instant Search on the Tools menu, and then click Indexing Status.
2. In the Microsoft Office Outlook dialog box, view the number of items that remain to be indexed.

Did the .pst file or the .ost file shut down incorrectly?
If the .pst file or the .ost file shuts down incorrectly, you may receive one of the following error messages the next time that you start Outlook:
• Error message 1
Outlook cannot open the data file filename until it has been checked for problems.
• Error message 2
Microsoft Office Outlook’ exited without properly closing your Outlook data file ‘drive:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.ost’. ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ must be restarted. If this error message recurs, contact support for ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ for assistance.
• Error message 3
The data file filename was not closed properly’. This file is being checked for problems.
If you receive one or more of these error messages, you may experience performance issues until Outlook finishes the reconciliation process for the .ost file or for the .pst file. The following gear icon is displayed in the status bar while Outlook checks the data file in the background:
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When this icon disappears, the .pst file or the .ost file is reconciled. If you exit Outlook while the gear icon is present, reconciliation must restart the next time that you run Outlook. We recommend that you leave Outlook running until the gear icon disappears before you exit Outlook.

An incorrectly shut down .ost file or .pst file may occur for one of the following reasons:
• Antivirus scanning of the file
• Forced Microsoft Windows shutdown before the Outlook.exe process shuts down completely
• Outlook add-ins

Do you use a rule that moves items out of the default store?
Rules that move items from your default store into another store can cause performance issues when Outlook downloads e-mail messages. Such performance issues are especially prevalent if you are not running Outlook with the SP1 update.

If you are using rules to move mail from a POP3 account to another store, you can use new functionality in Outlook 2007 that lets you change the delivery location of the POP3 account. In this case, you do not have to use rules to deliver the mail from that account to the separate store.

To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts, and then select the POP3 account in the list.
2. Click Change Folder at the bottom of the dialog box to select a folder in the separate store to which you want to deliver that account.
Are you connected to a POP3 server?

For more information about a possible workaround if you are connected to a POP3 server and your download speeds are very slow, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
935400 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935400/ ) It takes a very long time to download an e-mail message from a POP3 server in Outlook 2007
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Are you synchronizing many RSS feeds?

If you are synchronizing many RSS feeds into Outlook, you may experience performance issues with certain ordinary operations. By default, all RSS feeds are synchronized automatically at set intervals. If you have too many feeds, Outlook may become unresponsive.

You can create a separate Send/Receive group that contains only your RSS feeds, and you can remove them from the group your default mail account is in. This will enable you to sync the RSS feeds on-demand instead of at set intervals.

For more information about how to manage Send/Receive groups, see the articles on the following Office Online Web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/CH101395511033.aspx


Are you running Outlook with the To-Do Bar enabled when Outlook is running in online mode against an Exchange server?
If you are running Outlook with the To-Do Bar enabled when Outlook is running in online mode against an Exchange server, the additional data that is displayed in the To-Do Bar is retrieved from the server. Therefore, additional data requests are performed. These additional data requests for the To-Do Bar cause additional network traffic that can affect the performance of some standard Outlook operations.

To avoid this additional traffic and the resulting performance effect in Outlook, you can turn off the To-Do Bar and reduce the network traffic between Outlook and Exchange in online mode. This reduction in data retrieval requests affects the user experience most significantly if you have a network that has high latency or limited bandwidth. To turn off the To-Do Bar in Outlook, point to To-Do Bar on the View menu, and then click Off.

Administrators can also disable the To-Do Bar on users’ computers by using the following registry information.

If you do not use a policy setting, use the following information.

Registry location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\ToDoBar
Value name: DisableToDoBar
Value type: DWORD
Value data: 1 or 0

Note If the value data is set to 1, the To-Do Bar is turned off. If the value data is set to 0, the To-Do Bar is turned on.

If you use a policy setting, use the following information.

Registry location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\ToDoBar
Value name: DisableToDoBar
Value type: DWORD
Value data: 1 or 0