Moving and deleting items with AutoArchive: clearing up the confusion

For some of us, the AutoArchive reminder pops up at regular—and often inconvenient—intervals. For others, we think we’ve got it working, moving our unneeded Outlook items to be stored elsewhere, but we’re still playing it safe with the settings so that we don’t lose anything important. Or if we lose track of where our items are stored, we worry that they’ve been deleted. For the basics of AutoArchiving, see Use AutoArchive to back up or delete items on Office Online.

How can we be sure that we set things up so that our unneeded items are safely stored, but that keeping them “out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t also mean “gone forever?”

 

 

 

There are a lot of options in the dialog below. For an in-depth explanation of the AutoArchive settings see the “AutoArchive settings explained”article on Office Online.

Take control when customizing your AutoArchive settings

If you remember nothing else, remember this: under the umbrella of AutoArchive, archiving and deleting are two separate things. If something is archived, it is not deleted. Archiving only moves items. Here are the details:

· AutoArchive moves items from their original location in Outlook to an archive file folder when they expire; that is, when they pass their aging period. It can also automatically delete items instead of archiving them when they expire. The different types of Outlook items have default aging periods that do not change unless you modify the settings for them manually.

Translation: Items are moved or deleted on a preset timetable. You can either let Outlook’s default aging periods decide when your items are archived, or you can adjust the settings to suit your needs. For more information, see the aging period tables at the end of this post.

· Items are moved to and stored in their archived locations unless you change one or more AutoArchive settings. The items are not deleted from their archived location; they can only be deleted automatically before they are moved to their archive location. Once they are archived, they can only be deleted manually.

Translation: Once items are moved, they are never deleted from their archived location, unless you or an administrator do so manually (or if your computer hard drive or mail server crashes and burns) . And items are only deleted before being moved if you set it up that way. For more information, see Where does Outlook move my archived items? in the next section.

· Choosing a setting which deletes items deletes the items automatically when they expire. They are not archived (moved). For instance, if you click Delete expired items (e-mail folders only), this option deletes all messages in all your e-mail folders, such as Inbox, Sent, or Drafts, when they reach the end of their aging periods. The messages are not archived.

Translation: Items that you choose to be deleted when they expire are not archived (moved). Expire = reaching the end of an aging period. And you can change the aging periods too. Choosing a setting to delete items….deletes them.

Where does Outlook move my archived items?

The archive file is a special type of data file, an Outlook Date File (or Personal Folders file, .pst). The first time AutoArchive runs, by default Outlook creates the archive file automatically in the following locations:

• Windows Vista   C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst
  
• Microsoft Windows XP   C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName \Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst

You can also create your own archive files and storage locations for individual folders, so your storage locations may differ.

Note: As a best practice, it’s recommended that you backup your .pst files. Even though they are archived, there is still just one copy of each .pst. Make backups so that you don’t lose your archives in the event of a hard drive or server crash or file corruption.

Default aging periods for when items in folders expire or are deleted

Folder	Aging period
Inbox and Drafts	6 months
Sent Items and Deleted Items	1 months
Outbox	3 months
Calendar	6 months
Task	6 months
Notes	6 months
Journal	6 months
Contacts	don't expire

Note: Folders you create that contain the same types of items as Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, or Journal have the same default, six-month aging period.

Determine the age of an item

Item Type	When the aging period starts
E-mail message	The received date/time or when you last changed and saved the message, whichever is later.
Meeting, event, or appointment	The date when you last changed and saved the item.
Task	The completion date or when you last changed and saved the task. Tasks that are not marked complete are not AutoArchived. Tasks assigned to other people are archived only if marked complete.
Note	When you last changed and saved the note.
Journal entry	The date the Journal entry was created or when you last changed and saved the entry.
Contact	Contacts are not archived by default. However, you may manually archive them.

I hope this has helped you feel more confident about taking advantage of the convenience of AutoArchive. If not, let us know what issues you are running into.

Now, Outlook users, go forth and AutoArchive!

Laurie Hughes
Outlook UA writer