?Outlook 2016 running slow on Windows 10? is a concern often discussed on user forums. There can be multiple causes of this issue, including:
- Microsoft Outlook is upgraded from version 2013 to version 2016
- Windows operating system (on which Outlook is installed) is updated to Windows 10
The following solutions can help if your Outlook 2016 is running slow on Windows 10:
- Update Outlook with Service Packs: Microsoft releases service packs for Outlook and Windows. Not installing these Service packs on time may disrupt the normal functioning of Outlook, causing it to slow down. So, Check for the latest Service Packs, install them and then close and restart Outlook.
- Disable or Reduce Hardware Acceleration in Windows 10: Hardware acceleration enables the faster and smooth rendering of graphics, consuming more compute resources. Hardware acceleration may affect the performance of Outlook 2016 and other programs in case of a shortage of memory or compute power. So, disabling hardware acceleration may improve Outlook 2016 performance by running the application in software rendering mode.
- Archive Inbox: Archiving old emails in Outlook 2016 helps in improving Outlook performance, especially when the frequency and number of emails sent or received are high. It is suggested to keep the emails of current and last month in your inbox and archive the rest of the emails to boost Outlook performance.
- Open Outlook in Safe Mode and Disable add-in and RSS Feeds: Open Outlook in Safe mode by holding the CTRL key while opening Outlook. If Outlook 2016 is still running slow on Windows 10, check if any add-in is creating the issue.
Disable all Add-ins and enable the add-ins one by one. If Outlook fails to perform by enabling any particular add-in, it is most likely the cause of the issue. Uninstall the problematic add-in and enable again. You may also choose to uninstall the unused add-ins permanently.
RSS feeds from Internet Explorer are synced with the Outlook profile. This syncing may slow down Outlook performance if you have multiple bookmarked feeds. Disable RSS feeds in Outlook. Close and reopen the email client to check if the issue is fixed.
- Fix Errors in Data File: If opening Outlook in Safe mode, disabling add-ins and RSS feeds do not resolve ?Outlook 2016 running slow? issue, there is a possibility that corruption in PST file or Outlook profile is causing the issue.
Repair corrupt PST file by using PST repair software such as Stellar Repair for PST. The software can repair severely corrupted PST files and works equally well with password-protected and encrypted data files.
- Manage To-Do-Bar in Outlook: This workaround works when Outlook is synced with Exchange Server. To-Do-Bar in online mode is synced with the Exchange server, which results in Exchange managing additional data requests. These requests may hike network traffic and affect general Outlook performance.
Managing To-Do-Bar in offline mode may help fix the issue of Outlook 2016 running slow on Windows 10.
- Visit Anti-spam policy: This workaround works when Outlook is synced with the Exchange server. Spam-filter settings are implemented to select the action to be taken on messages identified as spam messages. There are default and custom spam filter policies, set as per Microsoft Security and Compliance Center.
You cannot change default spam filter policy and it is always on but you can change Custom spam filter policy to check the type of messages users can receive in their inbox.
There are times when spam filter systems may take extra time to catch-up, which may cause Outlook to run slower.
Fine-tuning the spam filer policies may help fix Outlook performance issues.
- Disable Microsoft Office Communicator Integration: Microsoft Office Communicator provides user-information such as whether a user is available, busy, in-a-meeting or away. By default, Outlook provides integration with Microsoft Office Communicator, but it may cause performance issues in Outlook.
Disable Microsoft Office Communication integration. Close Outlook and restart to check if Outlook 2016 is still running slow.
- Compact Outlook Data files: Outlook provides an option to compact the data files in Account Settings window.
Compact OST file in IMAP, Exchange-synced and Live-mail Outlook 2016 protocols, and compact PST file in Outlook by using POP3 protocol. Check Outlook performance.
- DLL files Causing Outlook Issues: Various DLL files such as rund1132.dll, olmapi32.dll, ntdll.dll may cause Outlook to run slow on Windows10.
You can fix such Outlook errors by resolving the .DLL error in Registry files.
- Recreate Outlook profile: There may be issues in installation or updating of Outlook 2016. Such Outlook issues are resolved by uninstalling the current Outlook profile and recreating new Outlook 2016 profile.
In some cases, users may not be able to recover Outlook data when they recreate a new Outlook profile. Then a better solution is to repair the Microsoft Outlook data file with PST repair tool.
Conclusion
In this post, we have highlighted the plausible causes of the Outlook slowdown issue along with solutions that may fix this. For example, if the problem is due to Outlook or Windows update, then check whether all service packs are updated. Similarly, try other methods to resolve the issue.
If the problem is still not resolved, repair Outlook data file with Stellar Repair for Outlook. The powerful scan engine of this utility can repair severely corrupt PST files of any size and recover mailbox data with precision. The software is of great help in times of crisis, as it provides a definite repair solution and supports all Outlook versions. Also, the software rules out the need to recreate the Outlook profile.
