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ENABLE ARCHIVE MAILBOXES FOR MICROSOFT 365

* Article
* 02/17/2023
* 16 contributors

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IN THIS ARTICLE

> Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance.

Archiving in Microsoft 365 (also called In-Place Archiving) provides users with
more mailbox storage space. For more information, see Learn about archive
mailboxes.

Use the information in this article to enable or disable an archive mailbox by
using the Exchange admin portal or by using PowerShell. Also learn how to run an
automated diagnostic check on a user's archive mailbox to identify any problems
and suggested resolutions.

Configuration to enable or disable archive mailboxes has recently moved from the
Microsoft Purview compliance portal to the new Exchange admin center (EAC).

Tip

If you're not an E5 customer, use the 90-day Microsoft Purview solutions trial
to explore how additional Purview capabilities can help your organization manage
data security and compliance needs. Start now at the Microsoft Purview
compliance portal trials hub. Learn details about signing up and trial terms.

GET THE NECESSARY PERMISSIONS

You must be assigned the Mail Recipients role in Exchange Online to enable or
disable archive mailboxes. By default, this role is assigned to the Recipient
Management and Organization Management role groups on the Permissions page in
the Exchange admin center.

HOW TO ENABLE AN ARCHIVE MAILBOX

Note

When you enable the archive mailbox, items in the user's mailbox that are older
than the archiving policy assigned to the mailbox will be moved to the new
archive mailbox. The default archive policy that is part of the retention policy
assigned to Exchange Online mailboxes moves items to the archive mailbox two
years after the date the item was delivered to the mailbox or created by the
user. For more information, see Learn about archive mailboxes.

1. In the new EAC, navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes.

2. In the list of mailboxes, select the user to enable their mailbox for
archive.

3. In the flyout pane, select Others, and under Mailbox archive, select Manage
mailbox archive:

4. On the Manage mailbox archive pane, turn on Mailbox archive, and then Save.

It might take a few moments to create the archive mailbox. When it's created,
Active is displayed in the Archive status column for the selected user, although
you might need to refresh the page to see the change of status.

HOW TO DISABLE AN ARCHIVE MAILBOX

Similarly to how you enable an archive mailbox, you can use the same
configuration in the EAC to disable a user's archive mailbox. This time, turn
Mailbox archive off in the EAC.

After you disable an archive mailbox, you can reconnect it to the user's primary
mailbox within 30 days of disabling it. In this case, the original contents of
the archive mailbox are restored. After 30 days, the contents of the original
archive mailbox are permanently deleted and can't be recovered. So if you
re-enable the archive more than 30 days after disabling it, a new archive
mailbox is created.

The default archive policy assigned to users' mailboxes moves items to the
archive mailbox two years after the date the item is delivered. If you disable a
user's archive mailbox, no action will be taken on mailbox items and they'll
remain in the user's primary mailbox.

USE EXCHANGE ONLINE POWERSHELL TO ENABLE OR DISABLE ARCHIVE MAILBOXES

You can also use Exchange Online PowerShell to enable archive mailboxes. The
primary reason to use PowerShell is that you can quickly enable the archive
mailbox for all users in your organization.

The first step is to connect to Exchange Online PowerShell. For instructions,
see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

After you're connected to Exchange Online, you can run the commands in the
following sections to enable or disable archive mailboxes.

ENABLE ARCHIVE MAILBOXES

Run the following command to enable the archive mailbox for a single user.

Enable-Mailbox -Identity <username> -Archive

Run the following command to enable the archive mailbox for all users in your
organization (whose archive mailbox is currently not enabled).

Get-Mailbox -Filter {ArchiveGuid -Eq "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" -AND RecipientTypeDetails -Eq "UserMailbox"} | Enable-Mailbox -Archive

DISABLE ARCHIVE MAILBOXES

Run the following command to disable the archive mailbox for a single user.

Disable-Mailbox -Identity <username> -Archive

Run the following command to disable the archive mailbox for all users in your
organization (whose archive mailbox is currently enabled).

Get-Mailbox -Filter {ArchiveGuid -Ne "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" -AND RecipientTypeDetails -Eq "UserMailbox"} | Disable-Mailbox -Archive

RUN DIAGNOSTICS ON ARCHIVE MAILBOXES

You can run an automated diagnostic check on a user's archive mailbox to
identify any problems and suggested resolutions.

To run the diagnostic check, click the button below.

Run Tests: Archive Mailbox

A flyout page opens in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Enter the email address
of the mailbox you want to check and click Run Tests.

Note

You must be a Microsoft 365 global admin to use the archive mailbox diagnostic
check. Also, this feature isn't available in Microsoft 365 Government clouds,
Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet, or Microsoft 365 Germany.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR END USERS

Explain to users how their archive mailbox works, and how they can interact with
it in Outlook on Windows, macOS, and the web. The most effective documentation
will be customized for your organization. But for basic instructions, see Manage
email storage with online archive mailboxes.

NEXT STEPS

Consider enabling auto-expanding archiving for additional storage space. For
instructions, see Enable auto-expanding archiving.

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