NHSmail - Archive Emails in Outlook Desktop Application ✅
NHSmail Archiving
All NHSmail users have access to a 100GB Online Archive which will enable you to store and manage older or legacy emails outside of your NHSmail mailbox – freeing up quota space and improving Outlook performance.
Access to Online Archive
The Online Archive will appear in the form of an additional mailbox in the left-hand side panel of Outlook (Outlook desktop application or Outlook on the Web). This will follow a similar naming convention to your NHSmail account with the prefix Online Archive used in the Outlook desktop application and In-Place Archive used in Outlook on the Web.
What does this mean for me?
Initially, 100GB of online archiving storage space will be provided, alongside your standard 4GB or 50GB mailbox. This additional space should provide greater flexibility and allow users nearing quota limits to reduce the overall size of their NHSmail mailbox.
Important Notes
Please note the archiving feature is not available for any shared mailboxes.
Under your NHSmail mailbox, you may have or likely have a folder called Archive – it is important that you do not use this when attempting to move content into the Online Archive.
The Archive folder is a standard folder provided by Microsoft (it cannot be removed) and it does not provide additional storage. When moving content please always ensure it is being added into the Online Archive or In-Place Archive.
The additional Online Archive mailbox will be displayed as Online Archive with your email address in the Folder Pane on the left.
WARNING - Do not move folders that have sub folders in them from the main email account to the Online Archive as all data will be lost from all the folders when moved. Example of a folder with sub folders below.
WARNING - Do not move individual folders from the main email account without clicking the blue link Click here to view more on Microsoft Exchange first, as all data will be lost from the folder when moved.
Manually Archive Emails
- Click the down arrow next to the heading Archive or Online Archive to display the folders.
- Click the Inbox, click the email you want to move and drag the email to the Archive folder under the Archive or Online Archive heading.
- When the Archive folder is highlighted, release the mouse button to drop the selected email from your NHSmail mailbox into the Archive or Online Archive
Move Multiple Emails
Click the first email to select it. Scroll down the email list and hold the shift key down on the keyboard (the up arrow under the Caps Lock button on the left of the keyboard) and click the last email in the list. This will highlight the emails. You can now click and drag the emails to the Archive folder in the Online Archive.
Alternatively, click Move on the ribbon at the top of the window and select Other Folder from the menu options.
From the Move Items dialog box, scroll down the list and click the arrow next to Archive or Online Archive to view the folders. Click the Archive folder under the heading and click OK.
The emails will be moved to the Online Archive mailbox.
Create a New Folder
Right click on the heading Archive or Online Archive and select New Folder.
Type in the name for the new folder and press Enter on the keyboard.
You can now drag and drop emails or use the move option to move emails to the new folder in the Online Archive.
Viewing all emails in a folder
To view all the emails from the NHSmail exchange, click the blue link at the end of the email list Click here to view more on Microsoft Exchange
WARNING - Do not move folders that have sub folders in them from the main email account to the Online Archive, as all data will be lost from all the folders when moved. Example of a folder with sub folders below.
WARNING - Do not move individual folders from the main email account without clicking the blue link Click here to view more on Microsoft Exchange first, as all data will be lost from the folder when moved.
Setup an Auto Archive Policy
There is an option to configure a policy that will automatically move emails of a certain age into the Online Archive mailbox.
Right click the selected folder in your NHSmail mailbox (i.e. Inbox). Select Properties.
From the Inbox Properties dialog box, click the Policy tab at the top of the box and click the arrow next to the word Never.
Choose from the following options:
- 30 days
- 90 days
- 6 months
- 1 year
- 5 years
- Never
The selected time period refers to the age of the mailbox items before they are automatically moved to the Online Archive without intervention. It will take several hours for all the content to be moved into the Online Archive.
Click OK to confirm.
The option Use Parent Folder Policy means that there are no policies applied to the folder.
Setup a Retention Policy
You can configure a Retention Policy for your Online Archive to automatically delete emails after a period of time.
Right click on the Archive folder under the heading Online Archive and select Properties.
From Archive Properties dialog box, click the Policy tab at the top of the box and click the arrow next to Use Parent Folder Policy.
Select one of the following options:
- 1 Month delete (30 days)
- 1 Week Delete (1 week)
- 1 Year Delete (1 year)
- 5 Year Delete (5 years)
- 6 Month Delete (6 months)
- Never Delete (Never)
The option Use Parent Folder Policy means that there are no policies applied to the folder.
Click OK to confirm.
Hints & Tips
- Archiving content takes time and may temporarily impact Outlook performance. It is recommended that users only manually move content or setup archive policies at appropriate quiet times when they will not need to use Outlook intensively
- Archived emails are stored online and therefore will only be accessible when connected to the internet. Users should consider this when deciding what content to archive. It is advised that emails or folders that are regularly accessed are not moved into the Online Archive
- In order to search for emails in both your primary and Online Archive mailboxes in the Outlook Desktop client you will need to change the scope of your mailbox search using the dropdown to the right of the search box.
Recovering Deleted Items
You can restore items from the Deleted Items folder in your Online Archive mailbox.
The items remain in this folder until they are manually removed by yourself. If an item is then deleted from the Online Archive deleted items folder, it is moved to the recoverable deleted items folder for 14 days before being permanently deleted.
To access the recoverable deleted items folder, click on the Folder tab across the top of the Outlook window and click Recover Deleted Items.
From the Recover Deleted Items dialog box, click the email and select Restore Selected Items in the bottom left of the box. Click OK to confirm.
This will restore the email back to its original folder.
Additional Guidance
Please refer to the User & Video Guides or the Microsoft 365 page for on the MLCSU Academy for additional guidance.
Please contact the MLCSU IT Training Team if you need any further help. Email: mlcsu.academy@nhs.net