This message is for Entourage users.  Please read it through the end. (from the ASD IT Help Desk) March 2010

The Help Desk has received a significant number of calls regarding Entourage 2008.  Taking a few minutes to perform some cleanup before updating Entourage can prevent problems that take a long time to resolve, if at all.  NOTE: while the article below says 3500 is a good number of emails, we’ve worked on several accounts with fewer than 1000.  The size of attachments also figures into Entourage “breaking”.

“Entourage users experience poor performance when they work with a folder that contains too many items on a server.  Having a high number of items in the primary folders (Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Calendar, etc.) can cause Entourage to take a very long time to open. Ideally, the number of items should be around 3500 or less for maximum performance. Having more items in the primary folders causes Entourage to send multiple requests to the server .  Every time the view is changed, the messages are scrolled through.” 

Empty Your Deleted Items Folder – do not use it for storage

Position your mouse over the Deleted Items folder in your folder list, control click and choose Empty“Deleted Items” Folder, or set your Deleted Items Folder to automatically be emptied when you exit Entourage by choosing Tools, Run Schedule, EditSchedules and changing When to On Quit.

Note : Once you delete items from your Deleted Items folder, they are permanently deleted.

Delete Sent Items

When you send messages, a copy of the message is saved in your Sent Items folder, which counts towards your limit. Sent Items can be deleted or moved from the server in order to reduce your Mailbox size.

1. Select the Sent Items folder from the folder list.
2. Select the messages you want to delete.
3. Press Delete on your keyboard.
4. Empty your Deleted Items Folder.

Tip: You can sort your messages by subject, recipient, or date and selectively delete your messages.

Delete or Move Messages with Large Attachments

Moving or deleting messages with large attachments is a very useful way to reduce your Mailbox size on the server. Perform these steps for the Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders under your Exchange account. (Not under Folders on My Computer. Those folders are stored on your computer, not the server.)

1. In the Inbox, click the column header at the top of the Reading Pane and select Size to sort items by size.
2. Look for messages listed under Huge or Very Large.
3. Select one of the three following options:

• Option 1 — Delete the entire message if the E-mail and the attachment are no longer useful to you.
• Option 2 — Open the message and save the attachment to a folder on your hard drive. After saving the attachment, delete the message.
• Option 3 — Select the message and move the message to a folder on My Computer.

Move Items from the Server to a Folder on My Computer

1. Select a folder from the folder list on the server, such as the Sent Items folder.
2. Open the folder and select the message(s) you want to move from that folder.
3. Click the Move button.
4. Select a folder under Folders on My Computer, such as the Sent Items folder.
5. Click Move. - or - Click New Folder, type a name for the new folder, and be sure to click a location for the new folder under Folders on My Computer, and click Move.

Repeating Calendar Events

The Entourage Calendar can corrupt your database and cause irrecoverable data loss if it is not set up correctly. If your database becomes too corrupted, all email in the saved folders under “My Computer” will be lost.

To address this, make sure all calendar events have a scheduled end date.  Navigate to the month of July in your Calendar and select Month view.   Double click questionable events and select “Open this Series”, then click OK. Click Edit…  Click End by: and set the event end date to the last day of school to prevent unending calendar events.

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