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Professional Guide to Managing Archive Mailboxes in Microsoft Exchange
R
Rodolfo Echenique
Automated Translation: This article was originally written in Spanish and translated by Gemini AI.
Maintaining efficiency and order in inboxes is a constant challenge for IT administrators. Microsoft Exchange offers a robust solution through its archiving feature, allowing the storage of old emails outside the main mailbox without losing accessibility.
This post details the procedure for enabling archive mailboxes using the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal and how to initiate the archiving process using PowerShell.
Enable the Archive Mailbox through the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal
This method provides a simple graphical interface for activating archiving on individual user accounts.
- Portal Access: Open your web browser and navigate to the Microsoft 365 admin center (usually ). Log in with your administrator credentials.
admin.microsoft.com - Navigate to Users: In the left navigation menu, click Users and then Active users. Select the user for whom you want to enable archiving.
- Open User Settings: In the user details pane that appears, click the Mail tab.
- Manage Mailbox Archive: In the Mailbox archive section, click Manage mailbox archive.
- Enable Archiving: A new floating panel will appear. If archiving is not yet enabled, you will see an option to Turn on. Click Turn on.
- Confirmation: You will receive a confirmation message. Click Close. The archive mailbox is now enabled for the selected user.
Move Emails to the Archive using PowerShell
Once the archive mailbox is enabled, you might want to manually trigger the process of moving older emails to the archive. This can be done using PowerShell.
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Open PowerShell as Administrator: On your computer, search for "PowerShell," right-click "Windows PowerShell," and select Run as administrator.
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Set the Execution Policy: Run the following command to allow the execution of downloaded scripts: powershell Set-ExecutionPolicy UnrestrictedTypeand press Enter to confirm if prompted.
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Enable TLS 1.2: Ensure that your system uses TLS 1.2 for secure connections: powershell [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
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Install the Exchange Online Management Module: If you haven't already, install the module required to manage Exchange Online: powershell Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagementTypeand press Enter to confirm the installation if prompted.
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Import the Module: Import the installed module into your current PowerShell session: powershell Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement
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Connect to Exchange Online: Establish a connection to your Exchange Online environment. You will be prompted to enter your administrator credentials: powershell Connect-ExchangeOnline
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Start the Managed Folder Assistant: To initiate the process of moving emails to the archive for a specific user, run the following command, replacing with the user's actual email address: powershell Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity "[email protected]" -FullCrawlThis command instructs the Managed Folder Assistant to process the mailbox and move items according to the defined retention policies (if any) or the default archive policy. Theparameter ensures that all mailbox items are evaluated.
-FullCrawl -
Monitor the Process: The commanddoes not provide immediate output. The archiving process runs in the background. The time it takes depends on the mailbox size and the amount of data to be moved.
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant
Conclusion
Enabling and utilizing the archive function in Microsoft Exchange is a crucial step in managing email storage and improving the overall user experience. By following these steps, IT administrators can effectively help users keep their main inboxes manageable while ensuring that older, yet still important, emails are securely stored and easily accessible in the archive. Remember to inform your users about this feature and how they can access their archived emails in Outlook or Outlook on the web.
Windows Microsoft 365 Office 365