How to Set Up Archive Rules in Office 365 – Complete Guide
Email is the most prominent and preferred way of communication that organizations rely on today. With so many email exchanges, end users’ mailboxes can sometimes get full in the Microsoft 365 suite, which can create a communication halt.
Fortunately, Microsoft offers an automated way to overcome this scenario by turning on the archive mailboxes option. Setting up archive rules in Office 365 allows users to move unwanted, older, or less critical emails to the archive mailbox automatically. This helps us ensure seamless communication and maintain mailbox performance.
Hence, in this guide, I am going to walk you through two ways, using which you can easily set up archive rules in Outlook 365. First, using a manual method that includes PowerShell scripts, and another via an automated, quick method using the software. Go through the write-up, explore different ways, and choose the preferred way to configure the archive policy in Microsoft 365.
Table of Contents
- What is Archiving in Outlook 365?
- Why Archive Emails in Outlook 365?
- What’s a Myth About Archive Mailboxes?
- How to Enable Archive Mailbox in Microsoft 365?
- Setting Up Archive Rules / Policies in Office 365 Using Retention Tag
- PowerShell Scripts to Create a Retention Tag
- Apply Retention Tags to Policies
- Configuring Archive Policy in Office 365
- Revising the By Default MRM Retention Policy in Microsoft 365
- A Better Alternative to Set Up Archiving Policy in Outlook 365
- Conclusion
Before heading towards the steps, it is crucial to learn more about the archive mailboxes, aka in-place archive or online archive mailboxes, in Microsoft 365.
What is Archiving in Outlook 365?
Coming to the names, In-place archive mailboxes or Online archive mailboxes are often used interchangeably and are secondary mailboxes apart from the regular user mailboxes. To be more specific, the In-place archive term is used for the on-premise Exchange Server context. Whereas Online archive mailboxes are often used in the context of Exchange Online (Microsoft 365).
When you turn on the archive mailbox, then the current user mailbox becomes the primary mailbox, and an additional and associated mailbox gets created, which acts as a secondary mailbox. It allows users to move their email data from their primary mailbox to the archive mailbox. Let’s take a look at the comparison between them.
| Maximum archive mailbox size | Application scope | Licensing | |
| In-Place Archive (On-Premise Exchange Server) | Unlimited | On-premises Exchange Environments | Enterprise Licensing |
| Online Archive
(Exchange Online, aka Microsoft 365) |
From 50GB up to 1.5TB | Cloud & Hybrid Environments | Included as part of a Plan or purchased additionally. |
Why Archive Emails in Outlook 365?
With time, email exchanges can lead to overflowing Office 365 mailboxes. This further slows down performance and can lead to data loss when the storage limit is exceeded. Archive mailbox:
- Keeps the primary mailbox free from older or less critical emails by moving them to the archive mailbox automatically.
- Helps in better management of older or unwanted emails without deleting them.
- Maintains adherence to organizational or legal data retention policies.
- Helps in keeping the mailbox lightweight and efficient for optimal performance.
What’s a Myth About Archive Mailboxes?
There is confusion regarding archive mailboxes; you must have noticed an Archive button in Outlook or Outlook on the web (OWA). It is not the archive mailbox; it’s just a by-default folder that helps you organize your emails more efficiently, similar to a sent folder or deleted folder.
Before configuring archive rules in Office 365, it is important to enable an archive mailbox in Microsoft 365.
How to Enable Archive Mailbox in Microsoft 365?
- Step 1. Use your global admin credentials to log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
- Step 2. Navigate to the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal.
- Step 3. Select Data Lifecycle Management > Archive.
- Step 4. Choose the user and toggle the archive mailbox option.
- Step 5. Wait for the mailbox to be provisioned.
Since the archive mailbox is enabled now, let’s address the elephant in the room, i.e., how to set up archive rules in Outlook 365.
Setting Up Archive Rules / Policies in Office 365 Using Retention Tag
Now you can move to another prerequisite, i.e., configure retention tags. A retention tag can be defined as a rule for data archive or retention. It can be applied to the entire mailbox or a specific folder of a mailbox. To be more specific, it defines the actions. These include:
- An action to delete, archive, or permanently delete, etc, items, more specifically emails, like a mailbox or a particular folder.
- Triggers the action on the item(s) when the age of the item(s) is reached.
It does not do anything by itself, unless it is added to a retention (archive) policy for specific user mailboxes in Microsoft 365.
PowerShell Scripts to Create a Retention Tag
Here we’re going to configure retention policies with PowerShell if you want to create a tag named Auto-archiving (2 years), which automatically archives emails that are at least 2 years old from the primary mailbox to the archive mailbox. Then, follow the steps below and the PowerShell scripts.
Connect to Exchange Online and run the cmdlets listed below:
New-RetentionPolicyTag "Auto-archiving (2 years)" -Type All -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 730-RetentionAction MoveToArchive
Suppose you want to configure a tag named Manual archiving (3 years), letting users manually archive items that are at least 3 years old. Then run the below PowerShell scripts.
New-RetentionPolicyTag "Manual archiving (3-year)" -Type Personal -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 1095-RetentionAction MoveToArchive
Apply Retention Tags to Policies
Create a Retention Policy:
New-RetentionPolicy "Custom Archive Policy" -RetentionPolicyTagLinks "Auto-archiving (2 years)", "Manual archiving (3 years)"
Assign Policy to Users:
Set-Mailbox -Identity [email protected] -RetentionPolicy "Custom Archive Policy"
Configuring Archive Policy in Office 365
Now that you have learned how to create retention tags, it is time to put them into action. You can also do this by configuring an MRM (messaging records management) archive policy. There are two ways that you can do it. These include:
Revising the By Default MRM Retention Policy in Microsoft 365 (Effortless Way)
- Step 1. Navigate to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, and sign in with a privileged account. This includes Global Admin, Compliance Admin, Organization Management, etc.
- Step 2. From the left menu, navigate to Data Lifecycle Management and click on Exchange (legacy), choose the MRM Retention policies tab.
- Step 3. Choose the default policy and click on the Edit button. A “Configure your policy” wizard will open.
- Step 4. Click on the Add tag Button. A window will open from the right side of the pane. Here you will find the tag(s) created earlier.
- Step 5. Check the desired tags; these tags will be added to that policy. Now hit the Next button to review your settings and then hit the Submit button. Click on the Done button to apply all changes.
A Better Alternative to Set Up Archiving Policy in Outlook 365
Although Microsoft offers a smart feature that allows you to set up an archive in Outlook 365. Using this archive mailbox, users can save space primary mailbox and keep the unimportant emails in the archive mailbox itself.
However, it should not be misunderstood with backup. An archive solution does not ensure data safety unless you keep a backup of this data locally. Additionally, the archive data is also stored in the Microsoft data center. If your account gets compromised, then you can also lose the archived data.
To address these limitations and leverage additional advantages, which include compliance with relevant laws, comprehensive control over crucial enterprise data, immediate access to locally stored backups, automated and ongoing backup creation, and many more, you can switch to SysTools Office 365 Backup Tool.
It is a comprehensive solution that helps you create backup copies of your important email data. It offers several smart features, such as bulk data backup, a built-in date filter, offers user account priority option, and generates summary and detailed reports of complete operation.
Download the free trial and enjoy backing up two users’ accounts for free.
Conclusion
Users set up archive rules in Outlook 365 to declutter unwanted email data, which helps enhance email management and productivity. However, without knowing the exact steps, they might encounter errors.
Hence, in this guide, I have discussed a few methods, including PowerShell scripts and reliable automated software, to perform the same. You can choose the best-suited method based on your requirements.