Outlook 2016 very slow

[jmt356]

I recently upgraded to Outlook 2016 and find it very slow compared with Outlook 2010. In Outlook 2010, there is no delay whatsoever when switching between mail, contacts and the calendar or when navigating between dates, opening contacts, etc. In Outlook 2016, in contrast, there is a noticeable delay of about 1 second between every operation (switching between mail, contacts and the calendar or when navigating between dates, opening contacts, etc.). I am comparing the very same PST and OST files in Outlook 2010 and in Outlook 2016. Outlook 2016 takes longer to read and write to them.

Outlook 2010 felt like I was working on a file directly on my hard drive and that thus did not require time to retrieve because I am using a SSD and fast processor. Outlook 2016, in contrast, feels like I am having to access information online and each operation requires communicating with a server.

Is there something different in how Outlook 2016 communicates with my OST file? Is it communicating with the OST file on my laptop or the OST file on the server? If to the server, can I switch it to the laptop to speed it up?

[JoeP]

Have set you set the accounts to download all the email? Go to File | Info | Account Settings | Account Settings (drop down). On the Email tab double click the account and set how much email you want cached locally.

[jmt356]

In Exchange Account Settings, Download email for the past is set to All.

[JoeP]

Are the data files for both versions stored on the same hard drive?

[jmt356]

Yes. They are all on the hard drive of my laptop, in the D: Data partition. Outlook 2016 downloaded the OST files to the C drive by default. I then moved them to the Data partition and created .symlink files in the Outlook location of the C drive to point Outlook to the location of the OST files in D. I wonder if that is what causes the delays. In Outlook 2010, I was able to configure the location of the PST files to the Data drive without using .symlink files.

[jmt356]

Moving the OST file of my main account from D: Data to C: does not make any noticeable difference in speed.

It seems the issue is with the Office 2016 platform. I have also noted that in addition to slowness issues in Outlook 2016, Word 2016 is noticeably slower than Word 2010 when working with the same files. It is especially slow with larger files (e.g. > 80 to 100 pages). It seems Office 2016 is a slower platform than Office 2010 was.

[JoeP]

See if anything at "Outlook not responding" error or Outlook freezes when you open a file or send mail helps. There are several troubleshooting steps including a link to the advanced Outlook diagnostic tool.

[jmt356]

I do not believe anything in "'Outlook not responding' error or Outlook freezes when you open a file or send mail" will help me. The issue appears to be with Outlook 2016. After all, the very same .OST that runs quickly in Outlook 2010 runs slowly in Outlook 2016. Even just navigating between dates in the calendar in Outlook 2016 is delayed. If I press the arrow quickly between dates, Outlook 2016 cannot highlight them fast enough, but Outlook 2010 keeps up.

Should I reduce my OST and PST files? They are between 400 MB and 4.2 GB. That doesn't strike me as particularly large. According to
"You may experience application pauses if you have a large Outlook data file" (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... tlook-data" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), problems occur "when the size of your Outlook data file is 10 gigabytes (GB) or more."

I will nonetheless look into archiving emails as Outlook 2016 does not appear seem to be able to work with large .OST and .PST files.

[JoeP]

While you may be correct and there is a general performance issue, it can't hurt to run the diagnostic tool from the link in that article. I would still recommend going through the various troubleshooting steps. You might turn up something.

[jmt356]

JoeP: I will consider running the diagnostic.