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Outlook - Auto-Archive button missing

Anonymous
2020-11-07T16:34:04+00:00

I have the Microsoft 365 desktop suite installed on a desktop computer and on a recent-model laptop. Both are running Windows 10 with all current updates. Outlook is also updated and fully current on the desktop and on the laptop.

I have a small business with a Business Standard account in the name of my office email address. I am also administrator of a MS 365 Family account, under a different email address. 

I NEED to retain and archive my office email for compliance purposes.  

But the Auto-Archive button is MISSING in my Outlook client software.  When I click on File/Options/Advanced, there IS NO option labeled "Auto-Archive". This is true for both the desktop and laptop computers. 

How can I restore the Auto-Archive button? Or has this been removed from Outlook in a recent change?

I do have an Archive button on the Ribbon. When I click on it with an email highlighted, it sends that email to a folder called "Archive1" which is a subfolder of my main office account folder. But my Outlook does not appear to be auto-archiving at all. Email that is older than one year is just disappearing from the Outlook client software and it is not being moved to the "Archive1" folder. 

When I examined my email online via Outlook.com, I found that the email older than one year is being stored online in subfolders of "Archive folders - <NAME>" (where NAME = my name)  

I would like to have this email locally stored as well, so that it is all searchable and I have it available if the Internet is down, or if (when travel starts again) my laptop is not connected to the internet. 

Thank you.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-08T04:06:56+00:00

    Thank you very much. I particularly appreciate being warned away from the scammer who offered to fix my problem with a call to a 901 number. 

    Your message explains why I don't see more-than-one-year-old email when I do a search in Outlook for "Current mailbox", but I do see it when I do the same search for "All Mailboxes" (which probably involves an internet search of my remote online archives). 

    Is this correct? Will I have access to all my old email as long as I remain a Microsoft 365 subscriber for my office account? 

    Is there any way that I can also store my old email locally? 

    How do I confirm that I have an Online Archive? This is a big plus for Microsoft 365 IMO. 

    PS: I was led to Auto Archive by links in the Outlook client software's help function to pages on the Microsoft site. If Auto Archive is really obsolete, it would be helpful to go back and fix those links, or fix the pages to explain that Auto Archive is obsolete.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-07T20:25:23+00:00

    Hi Zenoid,

    Auto Archive is an older Outlook feature that allows automatic moving of old mails to a .pst file. This means that the messages are removed from the server and are harder to find through search. If the hard drive that contains the AutoArchive.pst becomes unusable, these messages are lost. Online Archive is an enterprise-grade replacement for Auto Archive.

    AutoArchive can still be used if you don’t have an Online Archive, and if your IT department doesn’t disable the functionality. For more information about AutoArchive in Outlook 2016, see Archive older items manually in Outlook for Windows.

    I hope the above information helps. 

    Note: Please do not call phone number above posted thread that is a known Tech Support SCAM phone number. We have spam reported and deleted that post. Contact https://support.microsoft.com/contactus if you need help.

    Regards,

    Shawn

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-07T16:40:22+00:00

    Depends on the type of mail account, if exchange there is ex archive on the ribbon as you have found that Archives the selected mail to the Ex online Archive

    Other than that File>Info>Tools (mailbox cleanup)

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