Setting up Archiving in Outlook 2003

It is a good idea to set up Outlook to archive your older messages. Archiving older messages allows your mailbox size to be smaller and therefore let Outlook perform better. Also, if you have an Exchange mailbox, archiving will allow you the ability to purchase a smaller mailbox.

• The instructions below are customized for people moving from a POP3 mailbox in Outlook 2003 to a new WebsiteValet.com Hosted Exchange account. These instructions assume you have already "exported" messages from your original Outlook profile and "imported" those messages in to your new Exchange profile.

AutoArchive is turned on by default in Outlook 2003. However, you can change its default settings.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.
2. Click AutoArchive.
3. With Run AutoArchive every n days selected, specify how often to run AutoArchive (I recommend every 14 days). I like to have the Prompt before AutoArchive Runs selected.
4. Under the During AutoArchive section, have Archive or delete old items selected as well as Show archive folder in list.
5. I recommend you set the Clean out items older than 3 Months. If you are using an Exchange mailbox, only messages 3 months or newer will remain on the server. Older messages are archived on your local computer.
6. The Move old items to "default" setting is fine for most users. If you have recently converted to a "new" Exchange mailbox using a "new" profile in Outlook, you'll want to change the default setting. Click the Browse... button and the Find Personal Folders window will open. If the default file name is archive1.pst and archive.pst exists in the folder, choose the archive.pst file. (The archive1.pst file is the new archive that was set up with your new profile. The archive.pst is the archive file set up with your original profile.) Click OK.
7. Click the Apply these settings to all folders now button. This will run your AutoArchive settings. Depending on the size of your mailbox, this could take a while.
8. Click OK to close the AutoArchive window after the archiving process finishes. Click OK to close the Options window.
9. Check your mailbox to confirm that messages older than 3 months have been moved to the Archive Folders. If they haven't, continue to the next instruction to do a manual archive.
10. Click the File menu and choose Archive.... In the Archive window, choose Archive this folder and all subfolders option, and select your mailbox. Select the date you want to archive from and click the Browse... button to confirm you are arching to the archive.pst file. Click OK.
11. The archive process should now be complete and will automatically run every two weeks.