Archiving Staff Email

Part 1: Create a new pst file to backup your staff mailbox to:

1. Open Outlook
2. Select File from the main outlook window pane
3. Select Account Settings
4. Select Account Settings from the drop down
5. Select Data Files Tab
6. Select Add
7. Choose a location on your local PC and name the pst to something obvious e.g. MailboxBackup_2021
8. The new PST file will now appear within the list of data files and the main outlook window
9. Click Close to return to Outlook

Part 2: Export your staff mailbox to newly created pst file:

1. Select File
2. Select Open & Export
3. Select Import / Export
4. Select Export to a file
5. Select Outlook Data File (.pst)
6. Ensure the entire mailbox is selected e.g. <username>@unisa.edu.au
7. Click Next
8. Select the backup to use the new pst file you created earlier in Part 1: Step 7
9. Click Finish
10. Wait for the process to complete and verify its contents on completion within the main outlook

Or for step by step instructions (including screenshots) see Outlook mailbox backup page.

1. Search for Control Panel and open it
   
2. Change the View By field to Large Icons
3. Select Mail applet
4. Select Email Accounts
5. Select Data Files tab
   NOTE: The next step will not delete these files from the storage location, but will remove the association with Outlook to allow it to start.
6. Select listed file containing \\?\UNC at the start of the Location path
7. Click Remove
8. Repeat Steps 6 - 7 for remaining Locations starting with \\?\UNC
9. Click Close on all open windows
10. Open Outlook as normal

Or for step by step instructions (including screenshots) see removing pst files from an Outlook profile outside of Outlook client page.

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.

1. Go to Calendar
2. Select View tab
3. Click Change View and select List
   NOTE: Before changing to List make a note of what it’s currently set to for when you change back.
4. Click End to sort items by oldest to newest
5. Review calendar items and delete unneeded items
6. Change Calendar View back to previous settings as shown in Step 2

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:

1. Scroll to Search Folders within your mailbox
2. Right-click Search Folders
3. Click New Search Folder
4. Select desired criteria
   NOTE: Only one criteria can be selected for each Search Folder. Some recommended options are:
   • Large mail – show mail at least this large: 1024KB
   • Old mail – show mail: older than 6 months
5. Click OK
6. This will now be present as a subfolder under Search Folders and you can review its contents for items to delete or archive.

For step by step instructions (with screenshots) see search folders page.

Or for step by step instruction (including screen shots) 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

1. Click New Items in the top left corner
2. Click More Items
3. Click Outlook Data File...
4. Select C:\My Documents\Outlook files (create 'Outlook files' folder if it does not already exist)
5. Change default naming convention of File name: to something more appropriate, eg Username2020 or SharemailboxName2020
6. Click Ok
7. Your new PST will now appear at the bottom of the left hand side of your mailbox and you can now create/move folders/emails from your mailbox

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.

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:

1. Close/Cancel any error message pop-ups
2. Right mouse click on PST
3. Click Close 

Once you have closed the PST re-open it by:

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.

1. Open Outlook
2. Down the bottom click the 3 dots
3. Click Folders 
4. Right mouse click on Calendar
5. Click Properties
6. Click AutoArchive tab
7. Click Archive this folder using these settings:
8. Set Clean out items older than desired option
9. Click OK

Once archived you will be able to view old calendar items by opening the .pst file.

Or for step by step instruction (including screenshots) on archiving old calendar items page.

Archived emails are placed in a folder called On My Computer, this folder is hidden by default.

To show this go to: Outlook > Preferences > General and untick the Hide.

The On My Computer folder will then appear in you folder list on the left hand side of Outlook folders.

NOTE: Outlook archives in Apple OS can’t be saved on a server share.

Or for step by step instruction (including screen shots) see the how do I archive my emails on a Mac through Outlook page.

Archived emails in Mail are stored in a folder called On My Mac.

This folder is hidden by default, it will be visible once you archive an email:

1. Select the email
2. Click Message menu or the icon
3. Select Archive

NOTE: Mail archives in Apple OS can’t be saved on a server share.

Or for step by step instruction (including screen shots) see the how do I archive my emails on a Mac through Apple Mail page.

You can use Mail Backup X to manage your mailbox size on a Mac. Mail Backup X will back up and restore email to/from your local, removable and network drives. Mail Backup X allows you to back up only email that has changed since the last backup. The email backup can be stored at any location - both offline and online. The backups can also be stored at multiple locations simultaneously (Mirror). This helps, especially when one of the two storage locations are not contactable.

To request that Mail Backup X is installed on your University owned Mac please contact the IT Help Desk