Staff and Shared Mailboxes have size restrictions in place and the capacities needs to be maintained to ensure that incoming emails are received and to enable the sending of emails. Regularly archiving (whether manually or automated) will assist with ensuring mailboxes do not exceed the limits.
The below FAQs will assist with the archiving of mailboxes.
As your mailbox reaches its limit, you will need to look at what is using large amounts of space or may be unneeded and delete or archive as appropriate.
The two main things that take up space in your mailbox are emails and calendar items. Below are steps to clean up calendar items and create a Search Folder in Outlook (these are folders that automatically identify any item in your mailbox that meets a set criteria, e.g. older than one year).
These are generally less visible than emails and so can be an unexpected source of mailbox space usage, especially the longer a staff member works at the University. Calendar items are also easier to clean up as they’re generally unnecessary once the meeting has happened.
Calendar items will show up in Search Folders but since they’ll show up among emails you may need to review, this method can be a quick and easy way to focus just on your calendar.
For step by step instructions (with screenshots) see delete calendar items page.
These are useful as a permanent means of identifying emails you no longer need. Create a Search Folder for each criteria by following these steps:
For step by step instructions (with screenshots) see search folders page.
NOTE: Only 1 person can view a PST file at a time. If it is used by a number of staff you will need to ensure that you close it (by right mouse clicking on it and clicking Close "<pst file name>") after you have finished.
Or for step by step instruction on how to open a specific PST file see the opening a PST file page.
It is recommended that your PST file is saved to the local hard drive. Saving your PST to a network drive can cause issues with the performance of Outlook. Create the pst in a folder called 'Outlook files' within your Documents folder and then back up the PST to a network location. The backup process can be automated using a program called SafePST which can be installed via the Software Centre.
Open Outlook
For step by step instructions (with screenshots) see How can I create a PST/Archive folder? page.
For step by step instructions for setting up a backup process for your pst file see the page How do I use SafePST?
Or for step by step instruction on how to setup automatic archiving (not the recommended process) on specific folders see the configuring automatic archive page.
These instructions show you how to configure SafePST to create a backup copy of your current email archive (pst file) to a network folder. SafePST is a program that can access and backup the pst file while it is in use - this file is locked by Outlook and cannot otherwise be directly accessed. This programs runs in the background keeping the backup of the pst file updated according to the schedule.
If prompted to activate or update SafePST do not do so. There is no need to update or activate as this will lead to issues.
For step by step instructions (with screenshots) see How do I use SafePST page.
PST files could have issues opening or displaying content for a number of reasons. Outlook may display a warning/issue message when you first open the software or when you click on your PST to try and access content within.
Closing the PST and re-opening will refresh the connection with the file and resolve most issues:
Once you have closed the PST re-open it by:
NOTE: Only 1 person can view a PST file at a time. If it is used by a number of staff you will need to ensure that you close it (by right mouse clicking on it and clicking Close "<pst file name>") after you have finished.
Unfortunately Microsoft no longer supports this option and therefore the IT Help Desk at UniSA are also unable to assist. Even though you cannot move emails directly to SharePoint from Outlook, you could potentially set up a sync between SharePoint and OneDrive and move emails to OneDrive.
Step by step instructions (including screenshots) can be found on LinkedIn Learning.