User with 2500 items inbox - issues how do you fix this?

[Mitch]

I have a user with over 2500 inbox items, and all her subfolders in the
inbox. I know having over 1500 emails causes issue, is there any suggestions
I can give this user or patch's/fixes we can try? The user refuses to move
folders or trim down the inbox item count size.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

What issues are you referring to? There is no such limitation in Outlook.

 

[Mitch]

I am aware there are no such limits, but there are known issues with Inbox's
with over 1500 item count. The amount of time it takes to retreve from the
server, causes issues. Here's a link which touches on what I'm refering to.
You can have as many items in the inbox as you'd like (items being emails)
but the more you have the longer it takes for sorts, searches etc to run.
Also all her sub folders branch off her crital path, which I've also been
told causes issues since the server has to retrieve all this information. is
there an Exchange server group?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535025(EXCHG.80).aspx

I'm aware that Folder size causes issues, but I know that's not the issue
here.

 

[- Bobb -]

SIZE is constraint in Outlook - not number.
For "help" we'd need more details like : what version Outlook?
Any reason why user wants ALL folders in Inbox and not their own ? Is your
setup/ her impression that only Inbox syncs ? As for " user refuses...",
if you don't like it, just tell user/ her mgr up front " if you want it
all in your Inbox - fine - but you're all on your own when your pst gets
corrupted."

Associate has 6800+ emails in Inbox ! Works fine.
I asked WHY and he wants all emails so can arrange by date not category.
He archives when he gets periodic message.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

The article is pretty clear; depending on your hardware specifications and
Exchange configuration, there could be a performance issue when the item
count in the critical folder paths are between 3000 and 5000. For an
underspecced Exchange server this could be 2000 or even as low as 1000.
That's why you need to monitor Exchange performance and namely disk I/O.
When all users are using Cached Exchange mode it will significantly reduce
disk I/O on the server. Then disk I/O on the local client comes into play.

There is no hard limit but in most cases performance starts to degrade
noticeably when the ost-file reaches 2GB. Logically, the advice is always to
keep your mailbox as small as possible and delete/archive what is no longer
actively needed. There is no such thing that Outlook will fail when it has a
lot of items in a folder. I have folders with over 20000 items in them and
it works just fine. Performance is relative. When I'm searching in an old
archive, I don't expect it to show up in less than 1 sec. However, in my
normal daily operations waiting 1 sec for a general operation is
inacceptable.

So, it comes down to whatever the users feel is fine. "Patches and fixes"
are not going to help here as there is nothing to patch and fix. Refusing to
clean up a mailbox when it is being requested is a behavioral problem.
Report it to his/her/your manager when you feel it is endangering your mail
environment.

For an overview of Exchange newsgroups see;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/newsgroups

 

[- Bobb -]

I am aware there are no such limits, but there are known issues with
Inbox's
with over 1500 item count. The amount of time it takes to retreve from
the
server, causes issues. Here's a link which touches on what I'm refering
to.
You can have as many items in the inbox as you'd like (items being
emails)
but the more you have the longer it takes for sorts, searches etc to
run.

=====

I'd ask: IS there an issue with the server ? Is user knowledgeable ? No
? Then, let it go a while (since user doesn't seem to care), then since
this is a political problem, have a coffee with her manager / send the
mgr the link you show us. If he agrees with you and this, then discuss...
"What if ..... her account WAS corrupted when she logged in ? "
"What if you then took her laptop for a few hours and " recovered her
email ?"
"What if to recover it, ALL of her stuff was now in archive folder rather
than Inbox ? "
( You getting the idea ?)
Would Manager care ?
[ Or have IT mgr "set autoarchive policy for everyone". ]

Her Outlook screen still has - "all in one folder"
just one line below where it used to be.
Then set her account to autoarchive,
"to prevent this from happening again" :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830119
Problem fixed - AND you're the hero.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

I would leave out the enabling AutoArchive part. You shouldn't be using that
feature in a managed environment.

I am aware there are no such limits, but there are known issues with
Inbox's
with over 1500 item count. The amount of time it takes to retreve from
the
server, causes issues. Here's a link which touches on what I'm refering
to.
You can have as many items in the inbox as you'd like (items being
emails)
but the more you have the longer it takes for sorts, searches etc to run.

=====

I'd ask: IS there an issue with the server ? Is user knowledgeable ? No
? Then, let it go a while (since user doesn't seem to care), then since
this is a political problem, have a coffee with her manager / send the
mgr the link you show us. If he agrees with you and this, then discuss...
"What if ..... her account WAS corrupted when she logged in ? "
"What if you then took her laptop for a few hours and " recovered her
email ?"
"What if to recover it, ALL of her stuff was now in archive folder rather
than Inbox ? "
( You getting the idea ?)
Would Manager care ?
[ Or have IT mgr "set autoarchive policy for everyone". ]

Her Outlook screen still has - "all in one folder"
just one line below where it used to be.
Then set her account to autoarchive,
"to prevent this from happening again" :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830119
Problem fixed - AND you're the hero.