Organizations that use outlook must protect their email communication against threats. One way to do that is to enable online archive in Office 365.
Officially known as In-Place archive. This extra space is a built in feature present in many MS Office 365 plans and also available as an additional purchase. It allows users to extend their mailbox storage quota up to 1.5 TB.
Even if you have online archive feature as part of your Office 365 plan it will be disabled for all mailboxes by default. So, you must use either PowerShell commands or the EAC (Exchange Admin Centre).
After which it can be accessed by the user with the help of Outlook Web App or Outlook client.
Before we begin the actual process take a look at some pre requisites.
Some Points Regarding the Email In-Place Archive!
It is for the user’s knowledge that some points regarding the email in-place archive should be clear, as follows:
- Every Exchange Online plan can have an in-place email archive. However only accounts that have the Mail Recipients role can actually disable/enable online archive in Office 365.
- The mailbox for which you are enabling archive must be a user mailbox with an active license, shared mailboxes or accounts with expired licenses can’t have In place Archive storage.
- All contents of the email in-place archive are kept in the cloud. It is true even if you use a desktop client. So you won’t be able to find it in any local disk.
- Only the Outlook version of the Professional Plus product has the email in-place archive visible. They may be present in other versions of Outlook, but they will not displayed.
Understanding the Solutions to Enable Online Archive Office 365!
Two manual ways will be helpful in this scenario i.e. EAC & PowerShell, which are free! Remember, these approaches need some technical expertise to get the job done hassle-free.
Let’s start:
Method 1: Enable Archive Office 365 Using Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
This method is quite efficient for those who are not familiar with technical know-how. Plus, with this solution, there is a 0% risk of data loss. So, don’t waste time, just follow the listed instructions:
- Sign in to the Office 365 account and click Admin.
- In the lower-left navigation pane, click All admin centers -> Exchange.
- In the Exchange Admin Center (EAC), go to Recipients -> Mailboxes.
- Select the mailbox for which you want to enable online archive in Office 365 admin portal.
Note: You cannot select multiple mailboxes to bulk enable archives. - In the right-side details pane, go to Others tab, and click on Manage mailbox archive.
- When the pane changes toggle the Enable switch to on position, type the mailbox name, and press Save.
You should see a success message ask the user to login their Outlook account to verify.
Learn the Steps to Disable Online Archive Mailbox Office 365 Through EAC!
These are exactly the same steps just one minor change.
- The user has to log in to the Office 365 Admin Portal.
- In the lower-left corner of the window, select Exchange to log into the Exchange Admin Center and Exchange.
- Select Recipients -> Mailboxes.
- Now select the mailbox for which you want to disable the in-place archive in Office 365.
- In the right-side details pane, go to Others tab, and click on Manage mailbox archive.
- When the pane changes toggle the Enable switch to off position, and press Save.
Note: Only revoke in place archive if its empty, otherwise you will loose all data that’s there in the Archive.
Method 2: Enable Online Archive Office 365 Using PowerShell
The other method to enable an in-place online archive mailbox Office 365 is through a PowerShell command.
- The user has to connect the Exchange Online using Windows PowerShell. Use the enable-mailbox command to enable the archive for a particular mailbox-
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Enable-Mailbox –Identity user@domain.com –Archive
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- To enable an archive for all user mailboxes, use the following command:
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Get-Mailbox –Filter {ArchiveStatus –Eq “None” –AND RecipientTypeDetails –eq “UserMailbox”} | Enable-Mailbox –Archive
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Disable Via PowerShell
- To disable an archive use the following PowerShell command-
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Disable-Mailbox –Identity user@domain.com –Archive
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Also Read
Disadvantages of Manual Methods for Enabling/Disabling Online Archive Office 365
The manual methods are time-consuming and lengthy processes whereas the user has to have the technical expertise to execute the commands. The question “How to enable archive mailbox in Office 365 using PowerShell” remains the question. Hence, in a nutshell, the manual way to enable or disable an archive mailbox in Exchange Online server is difficult to interpret so it’s better to automate the process through some tool.
Bring it All Together!
This blog deals with the best possible manual approaches to disable or enable online archive Office 365. Moreover, the manual method that helps to archive Office 365 mailboxes is quite complicated and needs some technical expertise. But with clear instructions, one can efficiently initiate the task hassle-free.
Frequently asked Questions
- I accidently disable archive mailbox for a user that had important emails is that data lost?
Depends on how much time has passed. If within the 30 day threshold then it is still possible to re enable the archive and takeout/download the data. If it has been more than 30 days then unfortunately the data cannot be recovered. - Is there a cool down period between enabling and disabling an archive mailbox in Office 365?
No, you can enable or disable anytime just ensure that at the time of disabling there is o data in the archive or you risk loosing it. - For how many users can I enable or disable the archive mailbox?
If you use the GUI method you are limited to one user at a time, PowerShell is more flexible with it you can trigger or revoke as many as you want. - Can I as a user enable my own archive mailbox?
If you have the Mail Recipients role then yes otherwise no.