Tip # 2 includes the following:
"When you connect Outlook with either IMAP or POP3, you should have Outlook set up to download the complete message (instead of just the header). If you do this, Outlook wont have to sync with the server every time you click on a new item (as it will already be in the data file.) How you do this will depend upon which version of Outlook youre using. But basically, youre looking for the setting Download Complete Item Including Attachments."
I have found that downloading complete items can be really problematic, if you are a road warrior who has to deal with slow internet connections. If someone sends you a large file attachment, and you have Outlook configured to download the complete item, guess who is not going to see the rest of their email until the huge file download completes? Many times, messages with huge file attachments can wait until one is back in the office, where they (hopefully) have a decent connection speed. I configured Outlook to "Download complete items including attachments", but I also enabled (checked) the option that reads "Download only headers for items larger than", and selected 512 KB (half a MB) as the limit.
This setting provides a good balance, and has worked well for me, especially when dealing with a connection that may be less than 1 Mbps (megabit per second) and suffers from a low Consistency of Service measure. To find this setting in Outlook 2003, click on Tools | Options... Select the Mail Setup tab. Click on the "Send/Receive..." button. Select the appropriate accounts (I selected All Accounts). Click on the Edit... button. You should see these folder options in the lower half of the resulting dialog. If you have more than one account, you can set individual limits per account.
For more information on measuring connection speed and consistency of service, I recommend using VisualWare's free test tool:
http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.php. They offer a FAQ site (
http://www.myconnectionserver.com/support/faq.html), along with several white papers (
http://www.myconnectionserver.com/resources/index.html).
