Reducing Your Outlook 2010 Mailbox Size Quickly

The date for DHS migration to 365 is approaching and you have been notified that your mailbox must be under 750mb.  If you are one of the people with large mailboxes odds are you have not set up auto archiving.  There is a video on how to set up auto archiving on Customer Support Services Self Help Page that will show you how to set up automatic archiving on an ongoing basis.  As good as this video is at explaining Auto Archiving I have found that many users feel intimidated with all the options thatAuto Archiving presents them.

I personally like to manually archive and find that easier for users to follow.  Before going into how to reduce your mailbox size you may want to know how larger your mailbox is.  Here is how you can determine the size of your mailbox. (opens in new browser window)

The first thing we want to do is set up your archive folder.  I find it helpful to think of the archive folder like an electronic filing cabinet.  I advise using a descriptive name (ie: 2013-2014SchoolYear.pst) for the archive folders and to locate them under MyDocuments

1. Creating Your Archive Folder

From Outlook home screen click on "New Items" followed by "More Items" then "Outlook Data File ..."

This willl open the "Create or Open Outlook Data File" window

In my example above I am creating the file "2013-2014SchoolYear" in a folder "Outlook Files" that is under "My Documents".

Once this is created I can find the Archive Folder within Outlook on the left side:

2. Move Email From Mailbox To Archive

Now that you have your Archive Folder setup it's time to move email from your mailbox on the server to the Archive Folder to free up space.

Click on the "File" Tab in the upper right.  Make sure Info is highlighted.  Select "Cleanup Tools"

Click on Archive and you will be presented with Archive window.  Be sure the bullet for "Archive this folder and all subfolders:" is selected.  Click on the top your email address, just above Inbox, so that we are archiving EVERYTHING, Set the Date for "Archive items older than:" (I recommend setting it to the beginning of the current school year), Use the "Browse..." to locate the Archive Folder we created in the previous step.

In my example above I am archiving all items prior to 7/31/2014 to the Archive Folder I have set up. This will begin soon as I click the OK button.  How long this takes to complete depends on the amount of email that outlook finds to move over.  You can start this process in the morning and continue using your computer while the archiving takes place.

Once completed all items older than 7/31/2014 will be located under "2013-2014SchoolYear" on the left hand side of outlook with the same folder hierarchy that they were in on my original inbox.

Now your mailbox should be ready for migration 365!

Q&A

Q:  Can I access my email from a different computer?

A: Email moved to the archive is no longer on the server so you will need to back up the archive to a portable storage device, network drive or google drive then when you are at the different computer add the archive to outlook.

Q: Can I store the archive on my google drive?

A: You can back it up to the google drive but outlook cannot be directly connected to the copy that is on your google drive because it locks the file out and will cause google drive errors when it attempts to sync the drive.  I will post a blog later about how you can automate the backup process of the Archive folder so that it gets copied over to the google drive on pre-defined intervals.

Any other questions please email me or leave comment below