Stop my Outlook white space from growing.

May 6, 2009 11:26 AM

I use Outlook 2003 in Windows XP, and the white space at the top of my reading pane slowly grows over the course of a few days. How can I stop it from growing?

The Help --> About in Outlook says it's SP3, I assume that means service pack 3.
The problem happens on different .pst files, and all folders, Inbox, Deleted Items, etc. It's been happening for over a year now, and the only way I have found to fix it is to turn off the reading pane then close and restart Outlook.

I googled for help and only found others with the same problem and no helpful solutions. Thanks!

posted by soelo to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Could you create a screen shot of this and point to or describe more accurately the area?
posted by odinsdream at 12:45 PM on May 6

I made a screenshot here, but I really should have made it when the problem was acting up. I'll also add that the white space is not scrollable, the arrows on either end of the scroll bar actually get closer together and there is less overall room to scroll/read.
posted by soelo at 1:21 PM on May 6

Are you positively committed to staying with Outlook? Of all the components of the Microsoft Office suite, Outlook is the most consistently annoying; and if you're only using it for emails, there are free alternatives that work much better.
posted by flabdablet at 7:09 PM on May 6

Have you tried to close and reopen the preview window?
posted by gagoumot at 4:44 AM on May 7

Work dictates that I use Outlook, and this is a minor annoyance, not something that breaks my email. Just closing and reopening the reading pane doesn't get rid of the white space.
posted by soelo at 8:12 AM on May 7

Does it still happen if you use the three-column view, making the reading pane take up the entire right-hand side of the Outlook window?

Do you actually need to turn the reading pane off, exit Outlook, restart Outlook, and turn the reading pane back on, or is it enough just to exit and restart Outlook?

How many megabytes is your present .pst file?
posted by flabdablet at 11:51 PM on May 7

Yep, three column view has the same problem. I just tried restarting Outlook without turning off the reading pane and it did shrink the white space! I haven't seen it do that before, I must not have been paying attention to that when restarting.

My main .pst file is around 38 Mb right now, but this happens on all of my .pst files.

I posted another screen shot here that actually shows the white space after it has grown. I was able to make it grow this morning just by arrowing through some emails.

While explaining this to a coworker, he noted that my reading pane does not show header information, just attachments and message text. We can't find anywhere to turn that on or off in my settings.
posted by soelo at 7:52 AM on May 8

MS messaging dork here, I also noted the reading pane headers were missing.

disable headers then re-enable them:
On the View menu, point to Arrange By, and then click Custom.
Click Other Settings.
Under Reading Pane, select the Hide header information check box.

If that isn't it, blow away the normal template.
close all office apps
find and delete the normal.dot template
open word - this creates a new normal.dot template
then check your outlook.
posted by anti social order at 11:49 AM on May 21