Frequently Asked Questions

Email can fill your Outlook Inbox quickly – new messages, replies, and forwards. Before you know it, you could have thousands of messages. Keep your Outlook inbox and its folders under control by moving older items you want to keep to an archive. Outlook’s AutoArchive feature can do this automatically for you. Maintaining a healthy mailbox size improves Outlook’s performance and aids in keeping a well-organized mailbox.

To Setup AutoArchive

Archived items will be stored in an archive file on your computer. The default location and file name is C:\Users\[your username]\Documents\Outlook Files\Archive.pst.

Click File > Options > Advanced.  Under AutoArchive, click AutoArchive Settings. Click the Run AutoArchive every n days box and specify how often to run AutoArchive. NOTE: The default setting is 14 days. The Prompt before AutoArchive runs option is checked by default. You can uncheck this to avoid being interrupted by the prompt if you would like. The Delete expired items (email folders only) option is checked by default. We STRONGLY recommend UNCHECKING this option. The remainder of the default settings are best for most users. NOTE: You can choose any other options you want, such as the age of items to be archived. You can apply the AutoArchive settings to all sub-folders by clicking the Apply these settings to all folders now (recommended). When all settings are set to your preference, click OK. NOTE: You will need to manually run AutoArchive the first time after enabling it.

To Manually Run AutoArchive

Click File > Tools > Mailbox Cleanup  Click the AutoArchive button AutoArchive will run on the scheduled number of days, based on the AutoArchinve settings. You can run AutoArchive anytime by repeating the two steps above.

To Access Items in Your Archive

You can access the items in your Archive folder anytime you need them by clicking the Archive folder in the Outlook navigation pane.