Archive/PST Files in Outlook
Please Note: These instructions were written specifically for Microsoft Outlook 2010 on a Hosted Desktop UK computer, therefore screenshots and prompts may not be exactly representative if you are using a different version of Outlook with your own computer
Email can fill your Outlook Inbox quickly – new messages, replies, and forwards. Before you know it, you could have thousands of messages. Keep your Outlook inbox and its folders under control by moving older items you want to keep to an archive. Use AutoArchive to do this automatically.
You can change how often AutoArchive runs, where it stores archived items, and how long Outlook keeps items before archiving them.
1 - Click File > Options > Advanced
2 - Under AutoArchive, click AutoArchive Settings
3 - Click the Run AutoArchive every n days box and specify how often to run AutoArchive
4 - Choose any other options you want, such as having Outlook delete old items instead of archiving them
Change the AutoArchive settings for an individual folder
1 - In the Navigation Pane’s folder list, right-click the folder you want to change, and click Properties
2 - On the AutoArchive tab, choose the options you want
You can change how often AutoArchive runs, where it stores archived items, and how long Outlook keeps items before archiving them.
1 - Click File > Options > Advanced
2 - Under AutoArchive, click AutoArchive Settings
3 - Click the Run AutoArchive every n days box and specify how often to run AutoArchive
4 - Choose any other options you want, such as having Outlook delete old items instead of archiving them
Change the AutoArchive settings for an individual folder
1 - In the Navigation Pane’s folder list, right-click the folder you want to change, and click Properties
2 - On the AutoArchive tab, choose the options you want
1 - Open Outlook and select the File tab, then Info and Clean Up Tools. Then Archive
2 - Select Archive this folder and all subfolders
3 - Choose a date to archive items “older than” and select the checkbox called Include items with Do not AutoArchive checked
4 - Choose a location to save the Archive file to. ie Your Data drive E:\Data
(Do not use S:\ as mapped drives can impact connection performance, and you may find Outlook slows down as a result)
5 - Click OK. This will then archive your email in the background allowing you to continue to use Outlook in the meantime
6 - Once this is finished an Archive folder will be viewable under your normal Outlook folders list
7 - To view your archived emails, click the arrow to the left of the Archive folder to expand it and view its contents
2 - Select Archive this folder and all subfolders
3 - Choose a date to archive items “older than” and select the checkbox called Include items with Do not AutoArchive checked
4 - Choose a location to save the Archive file to. ie Your Data drive E:\Data
(Do not use S:\ as mapped drives can impact connection performance, and you may find Outlook slows down as a result)
5 - Click OK. This will then archive your email in the background allowing you to continue to use Outlook in the meantime
6 - Once this is finished an Archive folder will be viewable under your normal Outlook folders list
7 - To view your archived emails, click the arrow to the left of the Archive folder to expand it and view its contents
1 - Open Outlook
2 - Click File, Open then click Import
3 - On the next window choose Export to a file and click Next
4 - Choose Outlook Data File (.pst) from the list and click Next
5 - If you are exporting the whole mailbox (Inbox, Sent Items, Calendar, Contacts, etc) ensure you highlight the option at the top level and the Include subfolders box is checked, then click Next
6 - Choose the location where you would like to save the export to (eg. S drive), you can click on Browse… to choose the folder location, then click Finish
7 - You can password protect the Outlook PST file, if you wish to password protect it create the password now, otherwise leave blank and click OK
8 - When it has finished exporting it will go back to the Outlook window
2 - Click File, Open then click Import
3 - On the next window choose Export to a file and click Next
4 - Choose Outlook Data File (.pst) from the list and click Next
5 - If you are exporting the whole mailbox (Inbox, Sent Items, Calendar, Contacts, etc) ensure you highlight the option at the top level and the Include subfolders box is checked, then click Next
6 - Choose the location where you would like to save the export to (eg. S drive), you can click on Browse… to choose the folder location, then click Finish
7 - You can password protect the Outlook PST file, if you wish to password protect it create the password now, otherwise leave blank and click OK
8 - When it has finished exporting it will go back to the Outlook window
1 - In Outlook, click the File tab
2 - Click on Open
3 - Click on Open Outlook Data File
4 - Select the Archive file you wish to open (‘My Archive’ in this example), and then click Ok
5 - Your Archive will now appear in the left-hand panel within Outook. You can expand it in the same was as your mailbox and view the folders
6 - To remove an email account previously attached, right click the account in the left hand menu and click “Remove - Mymailaccount@example.com”
2 - Click on Open
3 - Click on Open Outlook Data File
4 - Select the Archive file you wish to open (‘My Archive’ in this example), and then click Ok
5 - Your Archive will now appear in the left-hand panel within Outook. You can expand it in the same was as your mailbox and view the folders
6 - To remove an email account previously attached, right click the account in the left hand menu and click “Remove - Mymailaccount@example.com”
Please Note this will import all of the email direct to your existing Outlook, this is different to Adding a PST to Outlook to view separately. Do do this, see the section Adding Archive/PST to Outlook
1 - Open Outlook
2 - Click File, Open then click Import
3 - On the next window choose Import from another program or file and click Next
4 - Choose Outlook Data File (.pst) from the list and click Next
5 - Use the browse button to select the PST file you wish to import, review the options with regard to overwriting, then click Next
6 - Select which folder you would like to import, and choose where you would like to import the PST into from the two options at the bottom, then click Finish
7 - When it has finished importing it will go back to the Outlook window
1 - Open Outlook
2 - Click File, Open then click Import
3 - On the next window choose Import from another program or file and click Next
4 - Choose Outlook Data File (.pst) from the list and click Next
5 - Use the browse button to select the PST file you wish to import, review the options with regard to overwriting, then click Next
6 - Select which folder you would like to import, and choose where you would like to import the PST into from the two options at the bottom, then click Finish
7 - When it has finished importing it will go back to the Outlook window