MS Outlook 2003 Best Practices

Do NOT set Auto-Archive.
To Turn off Auto-Archive
1. On Outlook's Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.
2. Click AutoArchive.
3. Clear Run AutoArchive every n days.
Use PST files locally and backup to your network drive. Backups should occur daily if practical, but weekly at a minimum. See Back Up Outlook e-mail messages for more information.
Antivirus software should NOT be configured to scan within Outlook.
Users should NOT opt out of the Spam Tag system's dropping email scored with 10 stars or greater. They might consider lowering the threshold based on individual needs. See Setting up Spam Filter rules with MS Outlook.
Individual users should not be added to mailboxes as "Send on Behalf of" delegates. Instead, a permission group should be created for any mailbox requiring delegation and users should be added to and removed from that group, as required. Only one such group should be added to the mailbox. See Microsoft Help and Support - Calendars.
Outlook rules should be setup to move any email items with spam scores greater than 5 stars to the "Junk Mail" folder when such items arrive. See Setting up Spam Filter rules with MS Outlook.
Mailbox folders should not include more than 5,000 items. See Microsoft Help and Support - Outlook.
To check the number of items in any one folder, select that folder in Outlook. The number of files in that folder will be displayed in the bottom left-hand corner of Outlook's window.
Third party plugins are NOT Recommended.
Outlook Cached Exchange mode is Recommended in the following circumstances:
- The computer is a laptop. (All Desktop Services-supported laptops are required to use cached mode.)
- The user has over 500MB of email. To check the size of your email
  1. In the Outlook Tools menu, click Mailbox Cleanup.
  2. Click View Mailbox Size
- Antivirus software should NOT be configured to scan within Outlook.
- The user needs or desires access to their existing email when the server is not available.
Turn on Cached Exchange Mode.
1. On the Tools menu, click E-Mail Accounts, click View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
2. In the Outlook processes e-mail for these accounts in the following order list, click the Exchange Server e-mail account, and then click Change.
3. Under Microsoft Exchange Server, select the Use Cached Exchange Mode check box and click Next.
4. Click OK from the window which pops up, telling you to close and restart Outlook.
5. Choose Exit from the File menu and restart Outlook.
Outlook Non-Cached Mode is Recommended in the following circumstances:
- The user is working with very time-sensative mail and needs to respond to email immediately when received. (Cached mode introduces a delay in delivery.)
- The user prefers to know that the server is unavailable and this is more important than the need to access existing email. Per Desktop Services, there are several users that meet this criterion.
To turn off Cached Exchange Mode.
1. On the Tools menu, click E-Mail Accounts, click View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
2. In the Outlook processes e-mail for these accounts in the following order list, click the Exchange Server e-mail account, and then click Change.
3. Under Microsoft Exchange Server, clear the Use Cached Exchange Mode check box and then click Next.
4. Click OK from the window which pops up, telling you to close and restart Outlook.
5. Choose Exit from the File menu and restart Outlook.