I've got a user with Outlook 2010 (running on Windows 7 Pro x64) with an Exchange 2010 mailbox (SBS 2011 Standard).

This person's mailbox is getting up near 2GB, so I've been trying to archive her mail, but for some reason Outlook simply refuses to archive no matter what I do. 

I've checked the auto-archive settings and they appear correct, and I've tried manually archiving specific folders, but to no avail-- there's no error message or anything, just nothing happens.

In case it's important, this person was running Outlook 2003 until about a month ago, and archving was still broken back then. I did an in-place upgrade, and frankly was hoping that it would address the issue, but no.

I've also checked to make sure that the modified date of the e-mails I want to archive matches the received date, so that's not the problem. 

I'd appreciate any suggestions on how I can figure out what's going on here.

Joe

This behavior may occur if one of the following factors is true:

1. Excluded from AutoArchive - A specific item will not be archived when the property is set to exclude it from AutoArchive. You can find this option by opening this item and then choose File-> Properties-> option Do not AutoArchive this item.

2. Modified date or sent/received date

- By default, Archiving works based on the modified date of an item. The modified date of an item can be viewed by opening the item and then choose File-> Properties. The item will only be archived when the modified date of the item is older than the date set for archiving. Actions that can cause the modified date to change are

reply
reply to all
forward
move to another folder
editing
saving
importing

In some cases (depending on the tools being used) scanning the item by for instance a virus scanner, anti-spam filter or synchronization software can also cause the modified date to be changed.

To change the Archive feature to function on the sent/received date of an item instead of on the modified date, you must install update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2516474

3. Damaged archive.pst

- When the archive.pst file (or whatever the name of the pst-file is you archive to) has become corrupted it will not be possible for Outlook to archive to that file. You should then close Outlook and use the Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) to scan it for errors or create a new one.
 
The location of scanpst.exe depends on the version of Outlook that you are using. You can find the location of and usage manual for scanpst.exe in the guide: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287497

Thanks.

Tony Chen

TechNet Community Support

• Edited by Tony Chen CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, October 15, 2012 6:13 AM

This behavior may occur if one of the following factors is true:

1. Excluded from AutoArchive - A specific item will not be archived when the property is set to exclude it from AutoArchive. You can find this option by opening this item and then choose File-> Properties-> option Do not AutoArchive this item.

2. Modified date or sent/received date

- By default, Archiving works based on the modified date of an item. The modified date of an item can be viewed by opening the item and then choose File-> Properties. The item will only be archived when the modified date of the item is older than the date set for archiving. Actions that can cause the modified date to change are

reply
reply to all
forward
move to another folder
editing
saving
importing

In some cases (depending on the tools being used) scanning the item by for instance a virus scanner, anti-spam filter or synchronization software can also cause the modified date to be changed.

To change the Archive feature to function on the sent/received date of an item instead of on the modified date, you must install update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2516474

3. Damaged archive.pst

- When the archive.pst file (or whatever the name of the pst-file is you archive to) has become corrupted it will not be possible for Outlook to archive to that file. You should then close Outlook and use the Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) to scan it for errors or create a new one.
 
The location of scanpst.exe depends on the version of Outlook that you are using. You can find the location of and usage manual for scanpst.exe in the guide: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287497

Thanks.

Tony Chen

TechNet Community Support

Thank you for your response.

I've already verified that "Do not Autoarchive" is NOT checked, so I don't believe that's my problem.

Also, as I've mentioned, I checked the modified dates of the items I want to archive and they all match the sent/receive date, so that doesn't appear to be the issue either.

As for scanpst, I did not check the existing archive file for damage, but I did create a brand new archive.pst to use instead and archving still fails to occur.

Any other suggestions?

Please create a new Outlook profile to check if auto-archive would work. There might be something wrong in your previous profile.

Tony Chen

• Marked as answer by Tony Chen CHNMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Wednesday, November 07, 2012 10:13 AM

I am having a similar problem. I want to archive my inbox (yahoo mail account), but when I manually archive certain items, I do not get an error message and yet nothing is archived. I was testing manual archiving of very old messages before attempting to use auto archive. Any suggestions?