Creating Space in Exchange Mailboxes

Overview

Each campus member with an Exchange mailbox is given a certain amount of storage, often 100 gigabytes, sometimes 50 gigabytes. Over time this storage can fill up and you may be looking for ways to make more room. The simplest way to do this is delete old emails, but if you would prefer to keep all your data you can also archive your emails.

Keep in mind that if you delete emails, they can be recovered for 14 days. After 14 days, the emails will be permanently deleted.
 

Instructions

There are two ways to archive emails. You can choose to archive your entire inbox, or just a certain folder. After archiving, you will need to import the data back into Outlook so you can view it.

Archive Entire Inbox

1. Launch Outlook, then click File in the top left corner
2. Under Info, go to Tools
3. Choose Clean Up Old Items
4. Specify a time range for the emails you would like to archive
   • for example, you can choose to archive all emails that have been in your inbox for over a year

Archive a Specific Folder

1. Right-click on the relevant folder
2. Click Properties
3. Go to the AutoArchive tab
4. Specify the archive settings you prefer

Both of the above methods should generate a .pst file. By default, Outlook will save this file in the following file path: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

If you notice your file saved as an .ost file rather than a .pst file, please scroll past this next set of directions.

To Import a .pst file

1. Launch Outlook, then click File in the top left corner
2. Click Open & Export
3. Choose either Open Outlook Data File or Import/Export
4. Select the .pst file representing your archived data
5. Choose to add the file as a separate folder. Do NOT add it to your inbox.
   • Adding the file to a separate folder allows you to keep you data within Outlook, but outside of your Exchange mailbox, so it will not take up any of your storage

If you ended up with an .ost file, you will need to convert it to a .pst file. You can either use an online .ost to .pst converter, or you can follow the steps below.

NOTE: Check the default file path C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook and ensure there are 2 .ost files relating to your TAMU exchange account. The following directions will not work if there are not at least 2.

1. For the purpose of these directions, let the main data file be called Main.ost and the most recently created .ost file be called Accident.ost
2. Switch Outlook into offline mode
   1. Go to the Send/Recieve tab
   2. Click Work Offline
   3. Ensure Outlook says Working Offline at the bottom
   4. Close Outlook completely
3. Locate the Main.ost file
   • The default file path should be C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
4. Rename Accident.ost to Main.ost 
   • Remember that your files will not actually be named Accident.ost and Main.ost, but you need to rename your file representing the Accident.ost file to have exactly the same name as your Main.ost file
   • You should get a prompt asking if you want to replace the file. Click Yes. This step is very important!
5. Reopen Outlook. You should now see all of the data you archived
6. Export this data as a .pst file
   1. Go to File in the top left and click Open & Export
   2. Click Import/Export
   3. Click Export to a File
   4. Choose the .pst option
   5. Choose the data you want to export
7. Ensure that a .pst file was created, then close Outlook and delete the .ost file
   • Both the new .pst file and the old .ost file will be in the default file path
8. Relaunch Outlook. It will likely take a long time to load. The Main.ost file will be recreated, but that is okay
9. Import the .pst file using the set of directions before these ones so you can keep your emails in Outlook without taking up Exchange storage space.

NOTE: You can also contact your departmental IT and request that your storage is increased. It is up to the discretion of the Exchange Administrators to accept or deny your request.

More Information on Archiving Emails

More Information on .pst Files