Outlook Archiving and Storage
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Outlook Archiving and Storage
This document provides information related to storing and archiving e-mail in Outlook, including Outlook’s auto archive feature, techniques for avoiding reaching your mailbox storage limit, and storing e-mails outside of Outlook so that they can be opened up with other applications (like Microsoft Word).
Outlook at UIS
UIS provides:
250 MB mailbox size Daily backups with 7-day retention Two week retention of deleted items 20 MB limit on the size of file attachments
When you reach your mailbox limit, you will no longer be able to send or receive messages. The quickest way to free up space is to delete your Sent Items folder and/or empty your Deleted Items folder.
To check your mailbox size:
1. In the navigation bar, right-click your Mailbox and choose Properties for “Mailbox – XXXXX”, where XXXXX is your name.
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2. Click the Folder Size button.
3. From this window, you can see your total mailbox size as well as the sizes of each subfolder.
Personal Folders vs. Archiving
A personal folder (or pst) is a data file that stores your messages and other items on your computer. Personal folders are helpful in freeing up server space (and avoiding reaching your 250 MB limit). You can simply drag and drop messages into folders that you have created or define rules to send them to the appropriate folders. In addition, personal folders are portable – you can move or copy messages from one computer to another or back them up on a CD or data drive.
Archiving moves items from their original location in Outlook to an archive folder. Outlook does the moving for you based on how old the messages are. The messages are automatically moved to a folder named Archive Folders and subfolders are created based on the folders in your mailbox. Any subfolders in your mailbox are automatically mirrored in the Archive Folders folder. In other words, archiving mimics your existing organization system.
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Personal folders and archiving have some traits in common. Both store messages locally, which means that if you check your e-mail from any other computer, you will not have access to your personal or archived folders. In addition, both methods move messages, not copy messages. Copying messages is covered in the Copying Messages/Making a Backup Copy section.
Let’s summarize. If you want things tidied up and are comfortable with your current organization system, then archiving is a good method to try. But if you prefer to move messages yourself and/or restructure your organization system, then personal folders may be a better fit.
Creating a Personal Folder
Before you can create subfolders in your personal folders, you must first create the pst file.
1. From the File menu, point to New, then click Outlook Data File.
2. Select Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) and click OK.
3. In the Create or Open Outlook Data File dialog box, type a name for your file and click OK. a. This is the file name for your data file; the name you would look for in Windows Explorer if you were searching for the file.
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4. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, type a name for the folder and click OK. a. This is the name that will appear in the Navigation Pane in Outlook. b. You can also assign a password, if desired. 5. Your new folder will now appear in the Navigation Pane.
Creating Subfolders in your Personal Folders
Now that you have set up your pst file, you can create subfolders in which to move your messages.
1. Right-click the Personal Folders folder and click New Folder.
2. Type a name for the subfolder. Verify that Personal Folders is selected and click OK.
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Moving Messages to Personal Folders
There are four ways to move messages to your personal folders.
Select the message and drag it to the desired subfolder. Right-click the message, and click Move to Folder. Select the folder to which you want to move the message, and click OK. Open the message. On the Message tab, click Move to Folder, and select the folder to which you want to move the message. Set up a rule to automatically move messages based on criteria (such as who sent the message, a particular word in the subject line, etc). o For detailed information on creating rules, please review ‘Managing your Inbox by Setting Rules’ available at http://www.uis.edu/its/otherservices/documents/Productivity/Outlook2007Rules.pdf
Using AutoArchive
AutoArchive is on by default and runs every 14 days. However, you can modify the archive settings.
1. From the Tools menu, click Options.
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2. Click the Other tab, and then click AutoArchive.
3. Select/adjust the options as desired. Click OK when finished.
a. Run AutoArchive every allows you to choose how often you want AutoArchive to run. b. Select Prompt before AutoArchive runs if you want Outlook to provide a reminder message before starting the process. You can click No to cancel the process, if desired. c. Select Delete expired items (e-mail folders only) if you want messages to be deleted when they expire (six months for the Inbox and Drafts; three months for Sent Items) instead of archived. d. The Archive or delete old items selection activates options that enable you to decide which items are archived and which are deleted when they reach the end of the aging period. Then choose additional settings to apply to both archiving and deletion.
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e. Select Show archive folder in folder list to have the Archive folder listed in the Navigation Pane. In the main Archive folder, you can open the subfolders and view your archived items, thus allowing you to drag items back to a working folder. f. Clean out items older than means to archive/store items. It does not mean delete. You can set a time of one day up to 60 months. g. Move old items to allows you to adjust the default location. h. Permanently delete old items allows you to delete expired items instead of moving/archiving them. Please note that they are permanently deleted, not just moved to the Deleted Items folder. i. Do not select Apply these settings to all folders now if you want to specify different settings for one or more folders. j. UIS has not set retention policies. 4. You can manually start an archive by choosing Archive from the File menu.
Customizing the AutoArchive Settings for Individual Folders
1. Right-click the folder and click Properties.
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2. Click the AutoArchive tab.
3. Make the appropriate changes and click OK.
Copying Messages/Making a Backup Copy
Please note that these steps will NOT reduce the size of your mailbox – they will merely provide you with a copy of the messages, leaving the original messages in their current location.
To export messages to a pst file (which requires Outlook to be opened):
1. From the File menu, choose Import and Export.
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2. Select Export to a file and click Next.
3. Select Personal folder file (.pst) and click Next.
4. Select the appropriate folder and click Next.
5. Browse to the appropriate .pst file or enter a name. Then select the appropriate option for handling duplicate items.
6. Click Finish to begin the export process. This may take several minutes.
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7. To open the .pst file in Outlook, a. From the File menu, point to Open and click Outlook Data File.
b. Select the appropriate .pst file and click OK. c. The personal folder will appear in the Navigation pane. To close it, right-click it and choose Close.
To save a single message as an htm file,
1. Select the message. 2. From the File menu, choose Save As.
3. Browse to the desired location. 4. Enter a file name and select HTML as the Save as Type. 5. Click Save.
6. The message can now be opened up in a browser.
To save a group of messages as a txt file,
1. Select the messages.
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2. From the File menu, choose Save As.
3. Browse to the desired location. 4. Enter a file name and click Save.
5. The messages can be opened up in a word processing program (like Microsoft Word).
To save all the messages in a particular folder as a csv file,
1. From the File menu, choose Import and Export.
2. Choose Export to a file and click Next.
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3. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and click Next.
4. Select the folder you want to export and click Next.
5. Browse to the desired location and click Next.
6. Click Finish to begin the export.
7. The file can be opened in a word processing program (like Microsoft Word).
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