Outlook Archive not working properly

Azy1412 211 Reputation points
2020-08-16T13:23:31.843+00:00 
 a user is having difficulty with archive  feature in Outlook.

OS: Windows 10 64x
Outlook 2019 64x

File > Cleanup Tools > Archive > Archive items older than: Sun 5/17/2020
only 4 email were archived (3 in 2019 and 1 in January 2020)

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Accepted answer
  1. Azy1412 211 Reputation points
    2021-01-13T06:15:26.677+00:00

    Update: Issue is resolved.

    I disabled all COM Addins for the user, restarted Outlook and reenabled the COM Addins back.
    After that archiving worked as intended.

    @Manu Philip , @Yuki Sun-MSFT thank you both for your help and I wish you have a good year!

    2 people found this answer helpful.

3 additional answers

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  1. Manu Philip 16,961 Reputation points MVP
    2020-08-16T14:10:00.617+00:00

    I am aware of a fix as below:
    Open Registry Editor>Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
    Create a DWORD 'ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime' and set the value as 1.
    Close registry editor and outlook and re-open outlook. Check if the archiving starts correctly

    8 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,781 Reputation points
    2020-08-17T02:35:36.997+00:00

    By default, Outlook archives Email messages based on the received date or the last modified date and time, whichever is later, see this KB article. So agree with Manu that the issue could be related to the modified date of the old messages. To verify this, you can view the modified date using the steps below:

    1. Switch to the Preview view by clicking View > Change View > Preview.
      17750-changeview.png
    2. Add the Modified Column by clicking View Settings > Columns, select "Date/Time fields" > Modified, click Add to add it to the view:
      17911-modifiedcolumn.png
    3. You may click on the Column titile "Modified" to sort the messages based on the modified date and time.

    Once confirmed that the issue is due to the Modified date, you can follow the suggestions shared by Manu to add the 'ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime' registry. Just do remember to back up the registry for restoration before modifying it in case problem occurs.

    17819-registry.png

    Furthermore, if the issue is not with the modified date, please double confirm that the correct folder is selected under the "Archive this folder and all subfolders" option. And the "Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings" option is NOT accidentally selected.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
  3. Jerry935 1 Reputation point
    2021-12-27T14:08:30.657+00:00

    And don't forget the obvious...make sure you have free storage available at the time you archive!!!! Running low on free space results in odd behavior when attempting to archive.