Archiving mail in Outlook 2013

Question

Outlook 2013 is warning me that my mailbox is getting too full:

(1) How can I find out its capacity and how much I have used?

(2) How can I find out which folders and messages are using up the most space?

(3) I assume I can "archive" the messages somehow. How does that work? Do I save them as a bundle to a file on my hard drive? I looked through the menu choices of Outlook and did not find anything that looked like it archived to a file.

Answer 1

Everything you're looking for is available under File -> Mailbox Cleanup.

For more information on the what Archiving does, check out this existing SU question:

• Does archiving email remove it from an exchange server?

Answer 2

(1) Just right-click on the Outlook status bar (the bottom of Outlook window with item count) and select "Quota information". You'll have the free space info there anytime: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/982997/mailbox-quota-information-is-not-displayed-on-the-status-bar-in-outlook. Also, click the FILE menu and you'll see the used space right below the Mailbox Settings.

(2) You can use free Outlook reporting utilities to gather these data. For example, Largest Folders and Largest Messages reports will show you all you need to know. Please note that I recommend these tools because I'm one of the developers, so feel free to ask any further questions.

(3) Outlook AutoArchive feature automatically moves old emails into the locally stored PST file: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/830119/description-of-the-autoarchive-feature-in-outlook