Outlook 2016 Archive won't archive old emails, only creating empty data file, size 265kb.

DakotaTube 1 Reputation point
2021-10-28T20:28:30.53+00:00

I'm try to archive a users older than a certain date in their inbox emails.

I've gone through tools -> clean up old files, I've also tried Import/Export -> Export to a file.

The only thing Outlook will do is create an empty archive data file or backup data file. I've tried saving to our server and on the local machine and I get the same results.

Any Archive file I make just ends up being empty.

Outlook Management
Outlook Management
Outlook: A family of Microsoft email and calendar products.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
4,903 questions
Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
2,011 questions
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
7,360 questions
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,871 Reputation points
    2021-10-29T04:27:10.967+00:00

    Hi @DakotaTube ,

    I've also tried Import/Export -> Export to a file.

    By this, do you mean exporting to PST also resulted in empty data files, size 265kb?

    Noticed that you've added an Exchange related tag, so the account involved is an Exchange account, right? If this is the case, please try switching between Exchange cached mode and online mode to see if there would be any difference:
    144798-1.png

    If it doesn't help, in case the issue is due to a corrupted Outlook profile, it's recommended to have a go by recreating a new Outlook profile and see if the archive feature can work as expected. See Overview of Outlook e-mail profile for information on creating new Outlook profiles.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.