How to Automatically or Manually Archive Emails in Outlook 2007-2016

By Sophia | Last Updated January 03, 2024

As we all know, Microsoft Outlook saves e-mails to the server at the same time while sending or receiving emails. However, the server space is also limited. So, we need to archive those emails that out-of-date from the server to computer disk. To make Outlook work properly and reduce unnecessary trouble, learn how to automatically or manually archive emails in Outlook 2007/2010/2013/2016.

• Part 1: How to Outlook Auto Archive
• Part 2: How to Archive Email Manually in Outlook

Part 1: How to Outlook Auto Archive

To save time, you can learn that how to automatically archive emails in Outlook 2007/2010/2013/2016.

Step 1: Go to AutoArchive Settings window.

For Outlook 2007: From the Menu Bar click on ToolsOptions. In the Options window, switch to Other tab and click on AutoArchive as the image below.

For Outlook 2010/2013/2016: Click on File and click Options in the left pane. In Outlook Options window, click on Advanced and go to ArtoArchive section. Click on AutoArchive Settings button to continue.

Step 2: When the AutoArchive window popups, check on Run AutoArchive every n days. Then make a setting according to your fact.

1. 1. Run AutoArchive every X days: You can click on the Up or Down arrow to change the value or click on the box to input the number directly.
2. 2. Prompt before AutoArchive runs: tick the checkbox if you want to know when it starts to auto-archiving.
3. 3. Delete expired items (e-mail folders only): those out-of-date files also need to clear to erase your disk space.
4. 4. Archive or delete old items: choose how long ago of emails to archive or delete. Check on "Move old items to a place" and click on Browse. Otherwise, choose "Permanently delete old items" from the list.
5. 5. Show archive folder in folder list: Check this box to see that what you archived before.

Note: If you want to find out where are archive emails located, follow the directory below.

In Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst

In Windows 7/8/10:

C:\Users\<User Name>\Documents\Outlook Files\archive.pst

Part 2: How to Archive Email Manually in Outlook

To archive emails manually in Outlook, here are two ways provided below.

• Way 1: Archive all emails manually
• Way 2: Archive single email manually

Way 1: Archive all emails manually

Step 1: For Outlook 2007, navigate to File> Archive. For Outlook 2010/2013/2016, click on FileInfo > Cleanup Tools > Archive.

Step 2: In Archive window, if you choose "Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings" then just click on OK to save changes. Alternatively, tap on "Archive this folder and all subfolders" option and choose what file to archive from the list. In the box behind "Archive items older than" you can set the time to archive emails. Tick the "Include items with "Do not Archive" checked" checkbox. Tap on Browse to change the location of the archive file.

Way 2: Archive single email manually

Step 1: Open Outlook from the desktop then expand the email folders in the left pane.

Step 2: Choose a file folder, right click on it and select Properties from the dropdown list.

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