How to get more space on your hard disk by cleaning out Outlook properly

If you’ve ever done a thorough cleanup of your Outlook inbox, you’ll find that permanently deleting files or emptying your recycle bin gets rid of the file – but doesn’t really do much in terms of saving space.

To reclaim your hard disk, what you need to do is to compact your PST file. If you’re not sure what exactly to do, within Outlook just go to Tools –> Options –> Mail Setup –> Data Files –> Select your outlook PST file –> Settings –> and click ‘Compact Now’.

The process may take some time if you have a large uncompacted file, so you may want to leave this running overnight. The net result though – is an optimized outlook file, and potentially LOTS more free hard disk space!