Exchange Newbie - Archiving

[technobia]

We have just installed Exchange on a 2003 SBS Premium server in our office. Users are used to having an Archive folder in their profile tree in Outlook. Since we upgraded and are using Exchange the archive folder does not exist.

I have a manager that wants to be able to look through email he has all the way back to 2005??? “Just like he did before” Currently it is all in his inbox.

Is there a way to put an archive folder in for those that want it?

 

[Zelandakh]

If he already has an archive folder, just open it. If he wants one, create an Archive folder within his mailbox - he'll need to move items in there as he wishes though.

 

[technobia]

I have already tried to make a local archive.pst but it does not show up. Also there is not way for the auto archive function to work? The user has to manually move the files?

 

[Zelandakh]

In Tools, Options, Other, Autoarchive you can set up an archive to auto archive but that takes the email out of Exchange.

This is not a good plan.

 

[technobia]

Is there some other method you might recommend? What do people do for wanting to keep messages for long periods of time other than tape?

Anyway the archive folder is not showing up in the client for some reason.

 

[zbnet]

AutoArchive in Outlook is a bit clumsy - and it saves as PST files, which aren't particularly secure or reliable.

If you want a formal archiving system, you need to spend some serious money on a proper system. Or, alternatively, buy some huge disks for your Exchange server (cheap these days), and set some really big mailbox limits for your users (Exchange does a really good job of keeping email efficiently). It is good up to about 2GB per mailbox, just remember to train your users to keep their inboxes small.

 

[technobia]

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it. If he REALLY wants to do this I will recommend just making another folder in his Exchange profile and manually moving the messages so he can easily browse them and keep them out of his inbox.

 

[Zelandakh]

Depends what he wants to achieve from archiving (and let's face it, users wanting to slim their mailboxes should be applauded!).

Mailbox smaller? Housekeeping is the answer.
Easier to find things? Filing.
Keep Exchange small? Disks are cheap enough.

I can't think of any other reasons.

The PST archive file is a dead duck as far as I am concerned. They generally don't get backed up and corrupt easily. There's also no SIS.