Opening messages takes too long

[Godzilla]

I recently re-installed windows 7 along with Office. I have my IMAP account set up in Outlook, but when I click on a message it takes quite a long time to open. For example I went back and checked the settings and had the test message sent. The message arrfived in my inbox ok, but It took over a minute to open and read.

I imagine there is some kind ot setting to improve this, but I do not know what.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Does it open better if you use Safe mode? If so, what antivirus or security software do you use?

To open Outlook in Safe mode: Close Outlook then hold Ctrl as you click on the Outlook icon. You'll get a message asking if you want to start in Safe mode. Click Ok.

 

[Godzilla]

It seems to open better. But I am looking at the send/receive progress and synchronizing folders is taking over 12 minutes.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

MSE is not affecting it. IMAP is slow in Outlook (slower than other accounts) - depending on how many messages, it can take some time, but 12 minutes is slow unless you have *a lot* of new mail or a really slow mail server. Outlook needs to resync the mailbox too, but should only sync changes, not the entire mailbox. If you are doing anything like sharing the imap data file, it could be causing outlook to do a full resync.

If the messages open speedily in Safe mode an addin is likely at fault. Look in file, options, addins. The other cause of your problems can be due to the router. I'm not aware of router problems with win7, but I've heard reports of problems with cicso routers in Win8. Changing the timeout on the network card fixed it for some, others needed to replace the router.

 

[Godzilla]

I think this seems to have worked itself out. At least my messages do not seem to be taking as long to open. I used safe mode and it seemed to take the same amount of time as without. I'm not totally sure what safe mode was going to do. I am noticing now that the mail folder in Outlook does not seem to be updating with Gmail. i.e. I read and delete messages throughout the day, and when I get home many of them are still unread on my desktop.

Regarding add-ins. I always see the message in IE about disabling add-ins, but I am not sure which ones to disable or delete. I'm also not sure which in Outlook are necessary. Some of them are things I really want to use. I am noticing though with all my office applications that as I include more add-ins that they take longer to open. I recently upgraded to using a solid state drive, and the time to open Office applications is incredibly fast, but it is an instant slower using add-ins than when they were first installed.

I have another question about how I have set up Outlook. How do I get rules to run automatically? I have some emails that I get daily, and I manage them by putting them into folders. I have set up rules for each of these, but they only seem to run the rules when I go in a manually run them. Some of these are large blocks of messages, and when I am out in the field, I have to use my remote log in application from whatever mobile device I have and remotely open the rules to run them just so I can keep my inbox manageable, and view what is important throughout the day.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

On Gmail updating: Outlook is probably set on check every 30 min and it won't update before the next mail pass. Hit send and receive or update folder, especially if you will be closing outlook soon after checking mail.

The ie message has nothing to do with Outlook. That is about IE addins. But yes, addins will slow outlook down. What ones do you have installed in Outlook?

With a gmail account, i'd probably set them up in gmail and let outlook sync the folders... it will solve the main problem with rules and imap accounts - rules only run on the full message and imap messages are typically header headers only or headers then bodies, so rules can be slow to kick in and may not work as expected.