How to Manually Archive Emails Archiving Emails in Microsoft Outlook 2016 1. Open Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 2. At the top-left hand side of the screen, select File. 3. Click the box that says Cleanup Tools. From the drop down menu that appears, click Archive. 4. Now select a folder you wish to archive. You can select a single folder, such as your Inbox, or all folders within your Outlook profile by selecting your account name (email address) at the top of the tree. 5. Once you have selected the folder you wish to archive, choose which items within that folder to archive. Select a date before which all emails will be archived by navigating to the menu labeled Archive items older than: and selecting the date you desire. Any emails older than the specified date will automatically be archived in the data file you set in step 7. 6. If you choose to select the box labeled Include items with Do not AutoArchive checked, items that you have tagged with the Do not AutoArchive label will not be archived and will remain in your inbox. 7. In the menu labeled Archive file: select a destination for your archive folder on your C drive. Important: Do not put your archive folder in a shared location, such as a network drive (like your H drive). The archive should exist on your C drive, which is only available on your local computer. 8. Click OK when you are done. If you navigate back to your inbox, you will see a message at the bottom of your machine that says Archiving [folder name] This is an indicator that you have successfully set up an archive folder, and that Outlook is archiving your emails for you. 9. The above steps will need to be completed any time that your inbox becomes too full. While this is a valid option, it is not as hands-free as Outlook AutoArchive, which is discussed in the next section.
How to set up Automatic Archiving 1. Open Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 2. At the top-left hand side of the screen, select File. 3. Select Options on the left-hand side of the screen. 4. Within the Outlook Options window, select Advanced. 5. Click on AutoArchive Settings on the right-hand side of the Outlook Options menu. 6. Here we see a host of options for setting up automatic email archiving. When done right, this offers the most powerful and hands-free way to ensure that your inbox never becomes too full. 7. Let s walk through each option and what it can do for you. a. Run AutoArchive every [ ] days. Use this checkbox to specify when you would like Outlook to automatically archive your emails. The default is set to every 14 days. For best results, set the box to every 1 days so that AutoArchive runs every day, and subsequently frees space for you every day. b. Prompt before AutoArchive runs. If this box is checked, Outlook will not automatically archive emails without prompting you for confirmation first. For best results, leave this box unchecked so that Outlook automatically does this work for you. c. During AutoArchive i. Delete expired items (e-mail folders only). Keep this box checked if you do not care about folder structure within your Archive folder. Uncheck this box if you want your archived emails to remain in the same folder they were in before being archived. ii. Archive or delete old items. Keep this box checked. It is necessary for AutoArchive to work.
1. Show archive folder in folder list. Keep this box checked. Doing so makes the Archive folder you set up visible among your other folders within the email client. 2. Default folder settings for auto archiving a. Clean out items older than [ ] months. Use this menu to designate when Outlook will archive old emails. With this default setup, any email older than 6 months old will automatically be put into archives whenever AutoArchive runs (the time we set in step 7.a.) b. Move old items to: This menu allows you to specify where you would like your Archive data file to be located. Important: Do not put your archive folder in a shared location, such as a network drive (like your H drive). The archive should exist on your C drive, which is only available on your local computer. c. Permanently delete old items: DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION. This option will delete the items you put in your archive directory, which defeats the whole purpose of having an archive in the first place. d. Click Apply these settings to all folders now when you are finished configuring your AutoArchive settings. If you navigate back to your inbox, you will see a message at the bottom of your machine that says Archiving [folder name] This is an indicator that you have successfully set up an archive folder, and that Outlook is archiving your emails for you.
8. The following image represents an ideal setup for AutoArchive: 9. Note: If archiving does not automatically start after clicking Apply these settings to all folders now, follow the steps below: a. Open Microsoft Office Outlook 2016 b. At the top-left hand side of the screen, select File. c. Click the box that says Cleanup Tools. From the drop down menu that appears, click Archive. d. Click the radio button at the top of the menu that says Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings e. Click OK f. You should now notice your emails being archived if they weren t before.
10. If all steps are completed above then your email should be set to automatically archive old emails based on the parameters you selected.