Outlook Temporary Folder for Attachments

[TTE Tom]

I receive many attachments to emails every day. I know that Outlook stores
these files in a folder with the following address:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\OLKxxx

My problem is that this folder is getting very large very often and cannot
be emptied out by normal means (disk cleanup, emptying recycle folders,
etc.). I also cannot browse to this location in Windows Explorer.

My question is, then how do I delete the files in this folder, as many of
them quickly become unnecessary, and the files tend to take up a lot of disk
space and affect my computer's performance.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

I receive many attachments to emails every day. I know that Outlook
stores
these files in a folder with the following address:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\OLKxxx

My problem is that this folder is getting very large very often and
cannot
be emptied out by normal means (disk cleanup, emptying recycle
folders,
etc.). I also cannot browse to this location in Windows Explorer.

My question is, then how do I delete the files in this folder, as
many of
them quickly become unnecessary, and the files tend to take up a lot
of disk
space and affect my computer's performance.

Don't leave open the attachments when you decide to exit Outlook.
Alternatively, don't "open" the attachments from within Outlook [to
make changes] but instead save them to the hard disk if you really
want to save them.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817878/en-us

It is a "special" folder so the disk cleanup wizard probably won't
touch them. Are you saying that you cannot delete the files yourself
using Windows Explorer (once you configure it to show hidden and
system files) or by using a 'del' command in a DOS shell where you
navigate to that folder?

 

[TTE Tom]

1) I do not leave these attachments open after exiting Outlook. Some of them
I don't even open, but forward or choose to save to a specific location
without even opening them.

2) I do have Windows Explorer configured to show hidden files and folders
(as far as I know... this feature is in the Tools->Folder Options->View
dialog available in explorer, as far as I know, anywhere else?). However, I
still cannot navigate to this folder on my hard drive, even though I know the
location of the folder vis a vis the save dialog window when saving files
attached to emails.

 

[Brian Tillman]

However, I still cannot navigate to this folder on
my hard drive, even though I know the location of the folder vis a
vis the save dialog window when saving files attached to emails.

Yes you can. Open WIndows Explorer and enter its path in the Address Bar;
i.e.,

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKxxx

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

1) I do not leave these attachments open after exiting Outlook.
Some of them
I don't even open, but forward or choose to save to a specific
location
without even opening them.

If you leave them open BEFORE exiting Outlook (regardless that you
close them after exiting Outlook) then the problem remains because the
file is inuse and Outlook cannot delete the temporary file when it is
exiting.

Forwarding an e-mail does not open any attachments. ALL e-mail is
sent as plain text. Encoding is used for MIME parts within the body
of the e-mail for the "attached" files. HTML is just plain text with
tags. To forward an e-mail is just resending the plain text that was
the raw source of the e-mail. Personally I do not forward inline
since this slices out the original headers and the recipient of the
forwarded e-mail never really gets the original but instead what YOU
created in a *new* message.

2) I do have Windows Explorer configured to show hidden files and
folders
(as far as I know... this feature is in the Tools->Folder
Options->View
dialog available in explorer, as far as I know, anywhere else?).
However, I
still cannot navigate to this folder on my hard drive, even though I
know the
location of the folder vis a vis the save dialog window when saving
files
attached to emails.

Rather than navigate (by following folders), enter the path into the
Address bar in Windows Explorer. Some "special" folders you don't get
to wander into but you can specify their full or absolute path to get
there, anyway. Alternatively, in a DOS shell, navigate to
"%userprofile%\Local Settings". Then use 'cd "Temporary Internet
Files\OLK*"' (note the path is enclosed in double quotes) to get into
that folder.