
Outlook can automatically check for new messages on a set interval. Below you'll find some common reasons for it and how to troubleshoot it. Under certain circumstances this process can “hang” and indeed cause your computer to slow down quite a bit.

“Synchronizing folders” is the generic term for when Outlook is sending and receiving messages and when (if your mail account type supports it) uploads changes to the mail server. How can I stop this? It's slowing down my computer! Outlook is constantly "synchronizing folders."
