Learn How to Enable Online Archive Office 365 with Step By Step Guide

author
Published By Mohit Jha
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On October 11th, 2023
Reading Time 6 Minutes Reading

Summary: In this blog, you will find the solution for How to enable or disable an archive mailbox in Office 365. All the possible methods are discussed in a detailed manner. The pros and cons of each method are also elaborated so that you can pick the right one for you.

The archiving of mailboxes is allowed in MS Office 365 so that users get additional mailbox storage space. This option is called In-Place Archiving. The archive mailbox also acts as an alternate storage location to store old data. Enabling or Disabling Archive Mailbox in an Office 365 account is implemented via PowerShell command or through EAC (Exchange Admin Centre).

By default, the email in-place archive is disabled for all mailboxes. The user can enable it and use it to store messages. The email in-place archive can be accessed by the user with the help of Outlook Web App and Outlook. These applications help the user to view the messages quickly in the archive mailbox. Also, MS Office allows users to easily move/copy messages between the primary mailbox and the archive mailbox.

If you want to enable in-place archive Office 365 then read this guide and you will get to know the different methods using which anyone can easily enable / disable archive mailbox Office 365

Table Of Content

Some Points Regarding the Email In-Place Archive

Before proceeding further, it is for the user’s knowledge that some points regarding the email in-place archive should be clear, as follows:

  • Every Exchange Online plan can have an in-place email archive. By default the email in-place archive is disabled for all users. Hence, an administrator must enable it to be accessed.
  • The contents of the email in-place archive are stored in the cloud. As in the Inbox, they are not synced to the local disk.
  • Only the Outlook version of the Professional Plus product has the email in-place archive visible. They may be present in other versions of Outlook, but they will not displayed. Hence it is important to learn how to enable or disable an archive mailbox in Exchange Online Server.

Also Read: How to import PST into Office 365 account?

Manual Methods to Enable In-Place Archive Office 365 Mailboxes

There are some manual ways, that one can use for free without paying a penny to sort things out. Sure they do a good amount of technical intelligence, so for those endowed with such capabilities, such methods can prove a boon to enable archive mailbox in Office 365
Let’s start:

Method 1: Enable Archive Office 365 Using Exchange Admin Center (EAC)

  1. Sign in to the Office 365 account and click Admin.
  2. In the lower-left navigation pane, click Admin Centers -> Exchange.
  3. In the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), go to Recipients -> Mailboxes.
  4. Select the mailbox that you want to enable. You can select multiple mailboxes also to enable archive mailbox office 365.
  5. In the right-side details pane, click Enable which is under the In-Place Archive option.

Note: Multiple inboxes can be selected to perform bulk archiving. The user has to use the Shift + Cntr keys to select multiple mailboxes. Click the More options in the detail pane and then click Enable under In-Place Archive.

Disable Online Archive Mailbox Office 365 Through EAC

  1. The user has to log in to the Office 365 Admin Portal.
  2. In the lower-left corner of the window, select exchange to log into the Exchange Admin Center and Exchange.
  3. Select Recipients -> Mailboxes.
  4. Now select the mailbox for which you want to disable the in-place archive in Office 365.
  5. Click on Disable under In-Place Archive.

Method 2: Enable Online Archive Office 365 Using PowerShell

The other method to enable in-place online archive mailbox Office 365 is through a PowerShell command.

  • The user has to connect the Exchange Online using Windows PowerShell. Use the enable-mailbox command to enable the archive for a particular mailbox-
    • Enable-Mailbox –Identity user@domain.com –Archive
  • To enable an archive for all user mailboxes, use the following command:
    • Get-Mailbox –Filter {ArchiveStatus –Eq “None” –AND RecipientTypeDetails –eq “UserMailbox”} | Enable-Mailbox –Archive

Disable Online Archive Office 365 PowerShell

  • To disable an archive use the following PowerShell command-
    • Disable-Mailbox –Identity user@domain.com –Archive

Disadvantages of Manual Methods for Enabling / Disabling  Online Archive Office 365

The manual methods are time-consuming and lengthy processes whereas the user has to have the technical expertise to execute the commands. The question “How to enable archive mailbox in Office 365 using PowerShell” still remains the question. Hence, in a nutshell, the manual way to enable or disable an archive mailbox in Exchange Online server is difficult to interpret so it’s better to automate the process through some tool.

Most Reliable Way to Archive Mailboxes in Exchange Online Office 365

One of the best-automated approaches to exporting archive mailboxes in Exchange Online is using Office 365 Export Tool. It is a sure-shot and error-free way that helps users to save data safely without enabling / disabling the in-place archive mailboxes in Office 365. This tool can export Office 365 Archive mailbox to PST file  including the shared mailboxes. You can also split PST file  to break down the large file into smaller parts. You can find the complete process with the help of generating an Export report.

Steps to Archive In-place Archive Mailbox in Office 365 Using Software Solution

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Step 1. Download and Install the tool. Select Office 365 Archive as the Source and Outlook as the destination.

Step 2. Select the required data from the workload section and apply the Date filter.

Step 3. Enter the Source Admin credentials Validate them and Next.

Step 4. Enter the location for the resulting file with the size for the file, validate them, and Next.

Step 5. Fetch the users by multiple options such as Fetch Users, Import Users, and Download template.

Step 6. Click on Start Export to start the exporting process.

Conclusion

This blog deals with both the manual and the automated approach to enable or disable an archive mailbox in exchange online. Moreover, the manual method that helps to archive Office 365 mailboxes is very typical to understand. Hence, it’s better to use the automated way to archive mailboxes in Microsoft Office 365.