Speed up Outlook 2007

If you are experiencing slow email on Outlook 2007, try this. It made an enormous difference for two of our computers.

STEP 1: Turn off Outlook 2007 and locate each of these files in turn and rename as indicated. For some reason, during the upgrade these four files can become corrupted — the migration from 2003 to 2007 isn’t the smoothest but not having to create all your POP3 accounts again is excellent.

1. extend.dat — you will find this file in the location
   Drive Letter:\Documents and Settings\user-directory\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\extend.datChange it to extend.old

   A user has reported that this file was the only thing that he needed to rename, so at this point try restarting Outlook normally and see if it has improved. If no difference has been made then rename the new version of the extend.dat as extend.old2 and continue on with the remaining files.

2. views.dat — may not find it most of the time
3. frmcache.dat —
   Drive Letter:\Documents and Settings\user-directory\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FORMS\FRMCACHE.DATChange it to FRMCACHE.old
4. outcmd.dat —
   C:\Documents and Settings\user-directory\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.datChange it to OUTCMD.old

STEP 2: Restart Outlook 2007

Send yourself some test emails and watch the messages appear.