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Online archiving is an automated process that runs periodically on the email server itself. The “Managed Folder Assistant” process spends a certain amount of time per day per mailbox moving data from live mailboxes to archive mailboxes; therefore, email may not move on the exact specified date depending on the process workload.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Question 1: Why is OIT enabling Online Archiving?
Answer 1: Microsoft has made significant changes to its storage allocation processes, starting in August 2024. It's important to note that prior to the implementation of archiving, the University's email usage alone accounted for a substantial 58% of the total pooled storage provided by Microsoft under their new storage limits. This pooled storage is not only utilized for emails but also for OneDrive, Sharepoint, and Teams storage. Therefore, the introduction of archiving is crucial to effectively manage the overall email storage allocation.
Question 2: What accounts will have the archive policy applied to them?
Answer 2: All Faculty, Staff, Student, Alumni, and Affiliate accounts will be subject to the two-year archiving policy.
Question 3: I have a complex folder structure in my mailbox. Will all my sorted mail be archived to an unsorted location?
Answer 3: No, the archive agent will automatically create folders within your Online Archive to mirror the structure of your main mailbox. For example, in the screenshot below, the Online Archive Vendors folder has the same subfolders of the main mailbox, with the exception of the “Atlassian” folder. No mail messages in the main mailbox Atlassian folder are over two years old, so the archive agent has not yet needed to create the Atlassian folder within the Online Archive.
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Question 4: Can I still search all my mail in one place?
Answer 4: This answer varies slightly based on the version of Outlook you are using. In “New” Outlook for Mac, “New” Outlook for Windows, and Outlook for the Web (https://outlook.office.com), the current default is to search both the main mailbox and the Online Archive automatically. In the legacy Outlook, the default search operation is “Current Mailbox” which does not search the Online Archive. You can set your search drop-down to “All Mailboxes” to include both the Online Archive and main mailbox in the same search operation.
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In the legacy Outlook for Windows program, you can also change your default search location to “All Mailboxes” by clicking on File, Options, and then selecting the Search section and changing the default from “Current folder” to “All mailboxes” as shown below. The easiest way to change this option in legacy Outlook for Mac is to click on the Outlook menu, select settings, and then enter “All mailboxes” in the search window in the top right.
Question 5: Who should I contact if I have additional questions?
Answer 5: Please contact the IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@ua.edu if you have additional questions.