Outlook 2007: How to troubleshoot performance issues in Outlook 2007

SUPPORT SOLUTION:
This article describes how to troubleshoot performance
issues in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 You may experience one or
more of the following performance issues in Outlook 2007:
Outlook 2007 appears to be unresponsive. Outlook 2007 appears to stop responding for a long
time..The performance issues may be caused by one or more of the
following:
Insufficient computer specificationsThe latest service pack for Outlook 2007 not
installedLarge Personal Folders files (.pst) or Offline Folder files
(.ost)Outlook .ost files or .pst files that are stored on a drive with insufficient write performance Third-party add-ins Gadgets that access Outlook data (This only applies to Windows Vista) Microsoft Office Communicator integration Antivirus software interaction Windows Desktop Search indexing Incomplete closure of .pst files or .ost files POP3 accounts on Windows Vista clients Many Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feedsTo-Do Bar and Online mode with Exchange server.Does the computer meet the system requirements for the 2007 Office suite that you are using?

Make sure that the computer meets the system requirements for the
2007 Microsoft Office suite that you are using. For more information about the
system requirements for the 2007 Office system, visit the following Microsoft
Web site:http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101668651033.aspx
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101668651033.aspx)
If the computer meets only the minimum system requirements, you
will not experience optimal performance of the 2007 Office suite..Are you running the latest version of Outlook 2007?

We recommend that you run Outlook 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with the February 2009 cumulative update.
Outlook 2007 SP1 includes the changes from the performance update and from the
Business Contact Manager update that is mentioned in this topic. If
you are running the release version of Outlook 2007, we recommend that you
install the Service Pack 1 (SP1) update and the Outlook 2007 February 2009 cumulative update that is mentioned in the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base article, 961752:
961752 

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961752/
)
Description of the Outlook 2007 hotfix package (Outlook.msp): February 24, 2009

For more information about the Outlook product team’s work on the February 2009 cumulative update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

968009 

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968009/
)

Outlook 2007 improvements in the February 2009 cumulative update

.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 application pauses during typical operations in Outlook. These
typical operations include reading e-mail messages, moving e-mail messages, and
deleting e-mail messages. When you use Outlook 2007 with the
Performance Update, or you use Outlook 2007 SP1 versions before the February 2009 cumulative update, the
following .ost size guidelines generally apply:
Up to 2 gigabytes (GB): This size should provide a good user experience on most 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 or early generation solid state drives (SSDs),
experience some application pauses 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
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP030829231033.aspx)
When you use Outlook 2007 SP1 with the February 2009 cumulative update or higher, the following .ost size guidelines generally apply:
Up to 5 gigabytes (GB): This size should provide a good user experience on most hardware.
Between 5 GB and 10 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 or early generation solid state drives (SSDs), experience some application pauses when the drives respond.
More than 10 GB: This size is where short pauses begin to occur on most hardware.
Very large, such as 25 GB or larger: This size increases the frequency of the short pauses, especially while you are downloading new e-mail. As described above, you can use Send/Receive groups to manually sync your mail.
The default maximum size for a Unicode .pst or .ost file is approximately 20 GB. The following KB article describes how to increase the maximum size of a .pst or .ost file:
832925 

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925/
)
How to configure the size limit for both (.pst) and (.ost) files in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003

The following
blog post describes how to reduce the size of your local data file by using
synchronization filters: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/12/17/447750.aspx
(http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/12/17/447750.aspx)
This is a stop-gap solution and is provided here for reference if
you cannot reduce the size of your mailbox. For example, you may be unable to
reduce the size of your mailbox if you have to maintain an archive of all
e-mail messages, both sent and received, over a time span of several years..Are you running a computer that has a first generation Solid State Drive (SSD) or a slow rotational Hard Disk Drive (HDD)?

If you are running Outlook 2007 on a computer that has a first generation solid
state drive (SSD) or a slow rotational hard disk drive (HDD), you may experience frequent pauses when you perform typical
operations in Outlook. Storing and retrieving data in an Outlook data file involves a high number of small noncontiguous reads and writes. A good metric to use when gauging data file performance on specific hardware is the disk drive’s noncontiguous write performance. The Windows performance team has provided a tool named WinSAT (see below for download and execution instructions) that can be used to benchmark specific disk drives. As you can see in the table below, the estimated experience for Outlook 2007 SP1 with the February 2009 cumulative update is better.The WinSAT tool is part of the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and is included in Windows Vista. For non-Windows Vista-based computers, you can download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=42B5AC83-C24F-4863-A389-3FFC194924F8&displaylang=en
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=42B5AC83-C24F-4863-A389-3FFC194924F8&displaylang=en)

The following table shows an estimated Outlook experience based on the score returned by the WinSAT tool.Collapse this tableExpand this tableWinSAT scoreDrive characteristicsSP1 before Feb updateSP1 after Feb update and later versionsLess than 15 MB/sGeneration 1 and Generation 2 SSDs (early 2008)UnusableReasonable, responsive, limited hangs and pausesBetween 15 MB/s and 30 MB/sMost Generation 2 SSDs (after April 2008); many 5400 rpm laptop rotational drivesMany hangs and pauses throughout the dayReasonable, responsive, limited hangs and pausesBetween 30 MB/s and 40 MB/sSome high-end Generation 2 SSDs (after September 2008); many 7200 rpm rotational drivesReasonable, responsive, limited hangs and pausesQuick, responsive, only occasional hangsGreater than 40 MB/sGeneration 3 SSDs, both MLC and SLC technology (November 2008); many 10000 rpm rotational drivesQuick, responsive, only occasional hangsQuick, responsive, rarely hangsNOTE: The following command-line was used to generate the results for the above table.
Winsat disk -drive c -ran -write -count 10
The results are found in the C:\Windows\Performance\Winsat\Winsat.log file.
.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 while using Cached Exchange mode or using a Personal Folders (.pst) file. . These
performance issues are especially noticeable when you switch into and out of that
folder. When you use Outlook 2007 with the Performance Update, or you use Outlook 2007 SP1 versions before the February 2009 cumulative update, generally, when 10,000 or more items are in a single folder, these issues can occur.
When you use Outlook 2007 SP1 with the February 2009 cumulative update or higher and have more than 50,000 items in a single folder, views other than Arranged By: Date can be slower.
We recommend that you move several items in
these larger folders to separate folders in the same store or to an archive
store, and use Arrange By: Date when running Service Pack 1 (SP1) with the February 2009 cumulative update for folders that have a large number of items.If you are not using Cached Exchange mode, please review one of the following resources. The resources document some performance issues on an Exchange server that has high item counts and restricted views. Additionally, the resources discuss how these performance issues might affect the overall client user experience.

For more information about understanding the performance impact of high item counts and restricted views, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535025.aspx
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc535025.aspx)
For more information about mailbox size limits,
visit the following Microsoft Exchange Team blog entry: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/03/14/395229.aspx
(http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/03/14/395229.aspx)
.Do you have any nonessential add-ins or out-of-date add-ins that are installed in Outlook?

If you have nonessential add-ins installed, you may want to remove
them from Outlook. To view the add-ins that are installed, follow these steps:
In Outlook, click Trust Center on the
Tools menu. 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 Any other COM add-ins that are listed in the Trust
Center were installed by other software.Outlook can also use
Microsoft Exchange Server client extensions that may cause performance issues.
To see the list of currently installed Exchange Server client extensions, click
Exchange Client Extensions in the Manage list
in the Add-ins section, and then click Go.
The Add-In Manager dialog box displays the list of currently
installed Exchange Server client extensions.By default, the following
Exchange Server client extensions are included in the 2007 Office system:
Delegate AccessDeleted Item RecoveryExchange Extensions commandsExchange Extensions property pagesAny other extensions that are listed in the Add-In
Manager dialog box were installed by other software.To
determine whether the performance problem is caused by add-ins, run Outlook in
safe mode. To do this, press and hold CTRL when you start Outlook. When Outlook
starts in safe mode, all COM add-ins and Exchange Server client extensions are
disabled.If the problem goes away when Outlook is running in safe
mode, it is likely that one of the add-ins is causing the performance issue. To
troubleshoot possible problems that are caused by COM add-ins or Exchange
Server client extensions, disable any items that you do not use regularly.
Then, restart Outlook. If that does not resolve the problem, disable the
remaining add-ins one by one. If that does not resolve the problem, the issue
may not be caused by an add-in.To disable COM add-ins, follow these
steps:
On the Tools menu, click Trust
Center. Click Add-ins, click COM
Add-ins in the Manage list, and then click
Go. In the COM Add-Ins dialog box, click to
clear the check boxes for any COM add-ins that you want to disable. After you disable the add-ins, click OK,
and then restart Outlook. To disable Exchange Server client extensions, follow these
steps:
On the Tools menu, click Trust
Center.Click Add-ins, click Exchange
Client Extensions in the Manage list, and then click
Go. In the Add-In Manager dialog box, click to
clear the check boxes for any extensions that you want to disable. After you disable the extensions, click
OK, and then restart Outlook..Did you install any gadgets that integrate with Outlook?

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:
Click StartCollapse this imageExpand this image, and then click Control Panel. Click Control Panel Home.Click Programs. Click Windows Sidebar
Properties. In the Maintenance section, click
View list of running gadgets. Click any gadget that you want to disable, and then click
Remove.For more information about the Windows Sidebar, view the “How do
I customize Windows Sidebar?” Help topic in Windows Vista..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:
In Outlook, click Options on the
Tools menu. 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.Restart Outlook. .Is antivirus software running?

Warning This workaround may make a computer or a network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.If 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. Note that if you are connecting to an Exchange Server mailbox, your email or mailbox is already being scanned by antivirus software on the server. You should check with your Exchange administrator to ensure this is the case.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?

Windows 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 Outlook is configured in a non-default state to index the items from the Exchange Server to the local client index, and 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:
In Outlook, point to Instant Search on the
Tools menu, and then click Indexing
Status. In the Microsoft Office Outlook dialog
box, view the number of items that remain to be indexed.The built-in back-off mechanisms in the indexing component of
Windows Desktop Search pause the indexing of Outlook data when the system is
under heavy use. The easiest way to let the indexing finish is to leave Outlook
running overnight.Additionally, performance issues are reduced when
you run Outlook in Cached Exchange Mode. In this mode, Windows Desktop Search
searches the local copy of the mailbox instead of the mailbox content that is
located on the server..Did the .pst file or the .ost file shut down incorrectly?

If you are running Service Pack 1 (SP1) with the February 2009 cumulative update, the frequency of the operations described in this section will be dramatically reduced.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 1Outlook cannot open the data file
filename until it has been checked for
problems.Error message 2Microsoft 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 3The 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:Collapse this imageExpand this imageWhen this icon disappears, the .pst file or the .ost file is reconciled. If you are running Outlook 2007 SP1 without the February 2009 cumulative update, and you exit Outlook while the gear icon is present, reconciliation must restart the next time that you run Outlook. In this case, we recommend that you leave Outlook running until the gear icon disappears before you exit Outlook. If you are running Outlook 2007 SP1 with the February 2009 cumulative update, the reconciliation process will pause at shutdown and resume (from where it was paused) the next time you start 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-insIf you see this issue frequently, and you have to exit Outlook
shortly before you shut down your computer, it may be better to shut down
Windows while Outlook is still running. We recommend that you do this instead
of exiting Outlook and then shutting down Windows shortly after that..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:
On the Tools menu, click
Accounts, and then select the POP3 account in the list.
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.If you do not use a POP3 account, you can also work around this
issue by setting your target folder for all rules to be in the same Outlook
store. Then, use the AutoArchive feature to move messages out of the default
store in bulk. For more information about how to configure the AutoArchive
feature, click the following article number to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base: 830119  

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830119/
)

Description of the AutoArchive feature in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook
2003

.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

.Are you synchronizing many RSS feeds?

If you are running Service Pack 1 (SP1) with the February 2009 cumulative update, the issues described in this section are significantly reduced in frequency.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
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/CH101395511033.aspx)
Thank you! Your feedback is used to help us improve our support
content. For more assistance options, visit the
Help and Support
Page
(http://support.microsoft.com/)
..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.If you are running Service Pack 1 (SP1) with the February 2009 cumulative update, the amount of network traffic caused by the To-Do Bar has been reduced from earlier versions, especially when loading recurring calendar items.To avoid additional network 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\ToDoBarValue name: DisableToDoBarValue type: DWORDValue data: 1 or 0Note 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\ToDoBarValue name: DisableToDoBarValue type: DWORDValue data: 1 or 0Note 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.For more
information about how administrators can control the user interface through
policy settings, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178990.aspx
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178990.aspx)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179100.aspx
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179100.aspx)
.Note This is a “FAST PUBLISH” article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500)
for other considerations..

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