Local folders for IMAP users

How can I keep the size of an IMAP email inbox down?

First you need to see the difference with IMAP over POP3:

• POP3 = Most household email is POP3 type. POP3 will “pop” a copy of incoming emails from the server over to outlook … then after a set period Outlook removes it off the server, while keeping the copy on outlook.
• IMAP = Synchronizes all server content with outlook.

Make a change in outlook, and at the next synchronization cycle the same change is made on the server (eg: delete and email, edit a draft, etc)

Q, Why would anyone use IMAP as you need a really large inbox to do this?

A, Industrys where you have a shared inbox for a company.

Say: SharedAccountingInformation@ThisCompany.com or something like that, where the manager and accounts staff all share the one inbox.

What can you do.

Outlook allows you to have Local folder; that is folders on your computer.

Here’s a guide: knowledgebase: Outlook local folders and how to use them

You can create a local folder and regularly move old emails over to it.

That way the synchronized folder will get smaller on outlook and on your server inbox … and all you old emails are safely stored on you local folder (on you hard drive as a pst file).