Archiving Outlook Email

Jump to: Windows Setup :: Mac Setup

If you are using Outlook for reading email on either Engineering Exchange or Penn State you may get a warning that your disk space on the mail server is nearly full. At that time you must move some mail off of the server. If the server space fills up completely you may not be able to receive new mail, or move/delete existing mail. Outlook for Windows has a feature called "Archiving" that will move some of your mail off the server and on to your local computer, or a backup drive. Mac's do not have archiving but can use "Outlook Rules" to help with the process.

You can always Google "Outlook Archiving" or "Outlook Rules" to see other webpages with instructions and screenshots. If you would like assistance let us know.

 

Setup Outlook Archiving for Windows

Archiving in Outlook can be done as a manual process as needed, say once every six months, or automated to move the mail without any user input. The choice is yours. The advantage of the automated process is that it happens regularly and you don't have to think about it. The configuration settings tell Outlook what to move, when to move it, and to where.The settings can also be customized per folder.

Archiving mail manually

  1. Click the File Tab.
  2. Click Cleanup Tools.
  3. Click Archive.
  4. Click the "Archive this folder and all subfolders" radio button, and then click/select the folder you want to archive.
  5. Under "Archive items older than" enter a date.
  6. If you do not want to use the default file location under "Archive file" click browse to specify a new file.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Be sure the location of the archive is being backed up regularlly in case of hard drive failure.

Archiving mail automatically

  1. Click the File Tab.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. Under AutoArchive, click AutoArchive Settings.
  5. Choose the options and file location that work for you. Be careful of the "Permanently delete old items" option which will delete the mail instead of moving it.
  6. This will be the default "Auto Archive" action. You may customize individual folders with other settings to behave differently.
    1. To customize an individual folder.
    2. In the Navigation Pane, right-click on the desired folder, and click Properties.
    3. Click the AutoArchive Tab and change the options to what you want for that folder. Options are to "Use default settings", create custom settings, or "Do not Archive."
  8. Be sure the location of the archive is being backed up regularlly in case of hard drive failure.

 

Setup Outlook Rules for Mac

  1. In Outlook 2011 for Mac, click the "Tools" menu and select "Rules."
  2. Under "On My Computer" choose the appropriate account; Exchange, POP, or IMAP. Click the "+" to add a new rule.
  3. Name the rule.
  4. Under the "When a new message arrives" section, define the conditions. Define "Date Received", "Is Greater/Less Than", and "Days old" etc.
  5. Under "Do the following" section define the action as "Move message" and where to move it to, i.e. "Inbox (On My Computer)."
  6. Make sure the "Enabled box is selected and click "OK". This creates the rule.
  7. From the "Message" menu, select "Rules" and then the rule you would like to run.
  8. Be sure to backup your local archive periodically in case of hard drive failure. One way to do this would be to "Export" the local mailbox to a .olm file, and then save the .olm file on another drive.