max. email to delete at one time

[Chris]

I have a user who has about 40,000 emails in his Deleted items folder. He
wants to delete most of them but has problem. I didn't get details. But my
question is: is there a max. limit of email items you can delete at one time?
If so, is this a Outlook restriction or Exchange? Does it apply to all
version of Outlook? Does this also apply to move items from one folder to
another one under Inbox or PST?

Thanks,

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

If the user just wants to empty the deleted item folder, just right click on
the folder and select empty.

Other than that, yes. The way the messaging API works is somewhere between
three to four thousand items when doing a selection the delete. This can't
be changed and applies to all versions*.

Never tried a move of that many items.

/neo

* Never used Outlook 2007

 

[Chris]

Thanks, Neo. Actually, the problem is that the user set auto archive for
Deleted items to permanantly delete any mail old than 13 month but it never
worked. Any suggestion for troubleshooting?

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

One of my favorite features for keeping folders manageable. Here are the
things that I would check.

1) Check the sent, received, and last modified dates. If a date is
empty/null, then the date is 1/1/4501 and the item will never be eligible.

2) Check the do not archive property. Open message and select file >
properties.

3) Each folder in Outlook can have its own archive settings that are
different than the global option. Right click on folder and select
properties > archive tab. The only thing to watch here is that the global
option to have the engine on and checking "x" days needs to be on. The
folder properties just overrides the aging criteria and how to handle.

/neo

PS - Don't forget that in an Exchange environment, you can use Mailbox
Manager to set age limits on everyones deleted item folder.

 

[Chris]

neo,
Thanks for the advice. The user didn't set global option to run x days.
Now, I have another question. Does auto archive require Outlook open when it
runs? If so, what happen if OL is not running for the scheduled day? Also,
auto archive runs on the x day (for example, 7th day) how do I know when it
will actually start?

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Yes, Outlook has to be running in order for auto-archive to work.

Outlook stores the date/time it last ran as a dword value in the registry.
So lets take your example of having it set for every 7 days. If you go on
vacation for 10 days and come back on day 11, it will run shortly after
Outlook goes idle (e.g. minimized or window loses focus).