OLEXP: How to Delete Newsgroup Messages and Headers in Outlook Express (166514)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 98
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 98
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 2000
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 2000
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 for Windows 98
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 for Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 for Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 for Windows 2000
This article was previously published under Q166514

SUMMARY

When you use Outlook Express, you can save space on your computer by removing newsgroup message bodies and headers, removing newsgroup message bodies only, or compacting wasted space.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that these options operate on the local storage of newsgroup messages on your computer. The options do not delete messages on the server. The exact wording of these options may vary slightly, depending on your version of Outlook Express.

To change these options, follow these steps:

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Maintenance tab (in Outlook Express 4.0, click the Advanced tab).
  3. Click the appropriate check box to select or clear it:
    • Delete messages after (<X>) days after being downloaded, where <X> is the number of days. The default value is 5 days.
    • Don't keep read messages; this deletes all read messages when you quit Outlook Express.
    • Compact files when there is (<X>) percent wasted space, where <X> is the percentage of wasted space. The default value is 20 percent.
  4. Click Clean Up Now. You can use the Local File Clean Up dialog box to manually clean up the messages that are stored locally on the computer. This does not delete messages on the server. You can also locate this dialog box by clicking Clean Up Files on the File menu.
  5. Click the news server or newsgroup from which you want to delete messages.
  6. Click the appropriate button:
    • If you want to compact wasted space, click Compact.
    • If you want to remove message bodies but leave the headers intact, click Remove Messages.
    • If you want to remove message bodies and headers, click Delete.
    • In Outlook Express 5, 5.5, or 6.0, if you want to delete all of the headers and message bodies and reset the folders so that the headers are downloaded again, click Reset.
  7. Click Close, and then click OK.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/24/2004
Keywords:kbhowto KB166514
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