re: email question (Windows, work, software, download)

[sam23]

I have a co-worker who seems to believe that having alot of email in your inbox (someone who never deletes email) actually slows down the application. Is this possible?

[djmilf]

Define "a lot".

I've created software that among other things displayed a visual list of objects (sort of like the list of files in Windows Explorer) and I didn't take into account the number of items that would appear in a list. When the list approached 10,000 objects the application would take minutes to load the visual list. When the list was only 100 objects, the application would load the list in a few seconds. From the application user's point of view, the application was "slowed down" when loading the 10K list of items.

So no, a large list of emails will not slow down the application...unless one is trying to display all 10,000 emails at once.

[mensaguy]

I recently saw one user that had never file any messages in folders, but had them set to move into an Archive after 30 days. When he got a new computer, moving the archive meant moving 15000 old messages. Yes, it was slow.

Remember, Outlook Express stores all messages in one folder. There is an index and a database for each message folder you have created. It stands to reason that the same slowdown will occur when there are too many indices and databases, with too many records in each one. I've commented before that Outlook Express seems to begin to lose some performance after it hold 1000-2000 messages.

[Tek_Freek]

The OP never told us what email app he is talking about....

[harry chickpea]

Tek_Freek is right, it really depends on the application and how it was configured. However, speed downloading and uploading shouldn't be affected.

[sam23]

Email application is Microsoft Outlook.

[Tek_Freek]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925