How to Use Archive Feature in Outlook to Reduce Size of Emails
The performance of MS Outlook program slows down when Outlook PST file size increases. This problem can lead to damage or corruption in the .pst file. In order to be safe from such scenario, Microsoft renders an ‘Archive’ feature to all its users. This informative blog is going to help end users in learning about ‘how to use archive feature in Outlook 2016’ to reduce emails size on Windows OS.
Archive Outlook 2016 – A Short Intro
Archive button can be found in Delete group on the ribbon for moving more than one messages to an Archive folder. This will not delete the emails but, move them to another folder. Advantages of using Archive feature in Microsoft Outlook 2016 are:
- Items residing in ‘Archive’ folder are easy to locate by using search operation. These can be determined also by directly navigating towards Archive folder.
- Emails or other data present in Archive folder gets synced with mobile devices.
Users who do not want to delete items from PST file but, want to reduce the file size, can use this feature of archiving. It is considered one of the best ways of compacting and exporting.
Default Location of Archive PST
The file format for ‘Archive’ folder in Outlook is also in PST format, which saves archived mailboxes of its respective email client.
‘The default location of an archive.pst file is same as of PST database file location.’
Note: One is free to change and customize this location of archive.pst.
How to Use Archive Feature in Outlook 2016?
There are several ways to archive emails in MS Outlook 2016. They are dependent on whether Outlook is configured with the O365 business account, IMAP, POP3, Outlook.com or an Exchange account. All accounts are having access to the ‘Archive’ folder and you cannot delete this folder. Folder policies like retention policies are applied on the Archive folder if an Exchange Online or Exchange account is configured in MS Outlook. In general case, users can make use of Archive feature either manually or automatically.
Manual Use of Archive Feature in Outlook 2016
- Open MS Outlook app on your PC and click on File >> Info >> Cleanup Tools
- A menu with 3 different options appear in which you have to click on Archive option
- Select the mailbox folder of Outlook, which is to be archived. Folders, as well as subfolders, can be archived by this functionality. If Outlook folder is chosen, it will create a new archive.pst that comprises of all items of the respective email client within it.
- In the field of Archive items older than, mention the date up to which archiving procedure is to be executed.
- Click on Browse button to locate path where an archive.pst file is to be saved
- After successfully browsing the path, click on OK to initiate the archiving of email and other items
Make Use of Archive Feature in Customized Way
By default, Microsoft Outlook automatically archives previous items on daily basis. However, you can change these auto-archive settings on the regular basis. Take help of following instructions to perform this :
- Open MS Outlook on your system and click on File >> Options
- This opens an Outlook Options wizard where you have to go to Advanced >> AutoArchive section.
- An AutoArchive window opens in which you have to make changes in displayed AutoArchive options, as per your requirements.
- After making the customized settings, you can click on OK to update all the changes
Note – Even if auto-archive settings are made, you can still make use of manual archiving whenever its need exists.
Observational Verdict
How to use Archive feature in Outlook 2016 is an hour-to-hour demand. Whenever one requires to create or move data in an archive.pst file, he/she can make use of it. It is an effective practice to use this archiving operation for a systematic Outlook database management.
