Archive old emails automatically in Outlook

Email can fill your Outlook Inbox quickly – new messages, replies, and forwards. Before you know it, you could have thousands of messages. Keep your Outlook inbox and its folders under control by moving older items you want to keep to an archive. Use AutoArchive to do this automatically.

Note: If you are using Microsoft 365, it's better to use the Online Archive functionality, rather than creating archive files on your computer. See this article for more information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/enable-archive-mailboxes

AutoArchive in Outlook

You can change how often AutoArchive runs, where it stores archived items, and how long Outlook keeps items before archiving them.

• Click File > Options > Advanced

• Under AutoArchive, click AutoArchive Settings.
• Click the Run AutoArchive every n days box and specify how often to run AutoArchive.
• Choose any other options you want, such as having Outlook delete old items instead of archiving them.

Tip: Archive and AutoArchive might not be available if your mail profile connects to an Exchange Server. It's also possible that your organization has a mail retention policy that overrides AutoArchive. Check with your system administrator for more information.

For more information about AutoArchive settings, see AutoArchive settings explained on the Microsoft website.