Enable Online Archive - Admin Help

Archiving in Microsoft 365 provides users with additional mailbox storage space.

After you turn on archive mailboxes, users can access and store messages in their archive mailboxes by using Microsoft Outlook and Outlook on the web.

Users can also move or copy messages between their primary mailbox and their archive mailbox. They can also recover deleted items from the Recoverable Items folder in their archive mailbox by using the Recover Deleted Items tool.

Permissions required for an admin to enable or modify this role

One must be assigned with the Mail Recipients role in Exchange Online to enable or disable archive mailboxes. By default, this role is assigned to the Recipient Management and Organization Management role groups on the Permissions page in the Exchange admin center. If you don't see the Archive page in the Microsoft 365 compliance center, ask your administrator to assign you the necessary permissions.

Enable an archive mailbox

1. Go to compliance.microsft.com and sign in.
2. In the left pane of the Microsoft 365 compliance center, click Information governance, and then click the Archive tab.
3. The Archive page is displayed. The Archive mailbox column indicates whether an archive mailbox is enabled or disabled for each user.
4. In the list of mailboxes, select the user that you want to enable the archive mailbox for.
5. In the details pane for the selected user (in the right navigation bar), click Enable.

A warning is displayed saying that if you enable the archive mailbox, items in the user's mailbox that are older than the archiving policy assigned to the mailbox will be moved to the new archive mailbox. The default archive policy that is part of the retention policy assigned to Exchange Online mailboxes moves items to the archive mailbox two years after the date the item was delivered to the mailbox or created by the user. For more information, see the More info section in this article.

Click Yes to enable the archive mailbox..

It might take a few moments to create the archive mailbox. When it's created, Archive mailbox: enabled is displayed in the details pane for the selected user. You might have to click Refresh  to update the information in the details pane.

Disable an archive mailbox

You can also use the Archive page in the Microsoft 365 compliance center to disable a user's archive mailbox. After you disable an archive mailbox, you can reconnect it to the user's primary mailbox within 30 days of disabling it.

In this case, the original contents of the archive mailbox are restored. After 30 days, the contents of the original archive mailbox are permanently deleted and can't be recovered. So if you re-enable the archive more than 30 days after disabling it, a new archive mailbox is created.

The default archive policy assigned to users' mailboxes moves items to the archive mailbox two years after the date the item is delivered. If you disable a user's archive mailbox, no action will be taken on mailbox items and they will remain in the user's primary mailbox.

To disable an archive mailbox:

1. Go to compliance.microsft.com and sign in.
2. In the left pane of the Microsoft 365 compliance center, click Information governance, and then click the Archive tab.
3. The Archive page is displayed. The Archive mailbox column indicates whether an archive mailbox is enabled or disabled for each user.
4. In the list of mailboxes, select the user that you want to disable the archive mailbox for.
5. In the details pane, click Disable.
6. A warning message is displayed saying that you'll have 30 days to re-enable the archive mailbox, and that after 30 days, all information in the archive will be permanently deleted.
7. Click Yes to disable the archive mailbox.

It might take a few moments to disable the archive mailbox. When it's disabled, Archive mailbox: disabled is displayed in the details pane for the selected user. You might have to click Refresh  to update the information in the details pane.