How to Delete Personal Folders in Microsoft Outlook

By Adrian Grahams

Declutter Microsoft Outlook by deleting personal folders that you no longer need.
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The personal folders on Microsoft Outlook contain the email messages, calendar information and contact details that you store while using the software. The information in each personal folder is stored in an Outlook data file with a ".pst" extension, so that you can easily export the data to another computer. If you have duplicate personal folders on Outlook, or folders that you no longer use, then you can close the Outlook data file to delete the folder from the Outlook navigation pane.

Step 1

Launch Microsoft Outlook on the computer.

Step 2

Find the navigation pane on the left-hand side of the Outlook program window.

Step 3

Read through the list of personal folders, and decide which folders you want to delete.

Step 4

Right-click the folder that you want to delete.

Step 5

Select "Close (Folder Name)" from the context menu. This deletes the folders from the Outlook navigation pane.

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