Email Management: Expand Storage Space with Online Archiving  

OTDI has been running a series of articles encouraging users to do some deep cleaning –spring cleaning—to optimize storage and decrease our overall storage footprint. Online archiving is one way to effectively use the storage we have available. 

University Libraries has extensive information on managing email storage. These guidelines can be helpful because not all records are equal in value or retention period. Online archiving and use of retention tags are effective strategies for freeing up space in your email account.  

To learn more about retention tags, attend University Libraries’ Bits and Bytes Workshop on March 21, which offers practical tips and guidance for managing email and electronic records. You can sign up for this workshop through BuckeyeLearn at various dates throughout the year. More information about online archiving follows. 

How to Use Online Archiving 

Your Outlook mailbox’s online archive can store older email messages where they won't occupy space in your primary mailbox. You have two archive folders in Outlook:  

“Archive” in Outlook is one of the default folders in your mobile or desktop application, like Sent Items and Deleted Items. You can use it to organize emails but does not provide extra storage space. To increase your storage space, you should use the Online Archive, which provides additional mailbox storage.  

We have posted how-to articles in the Administrative Resource Center so you can learn to archive in on any system -- Windows, Mac, and the Web App. These instructions also include information about retention tags, which will be covered more extensively in our next article:   

Once you have archived emails, messages in those folders can be set to automatically be deleted based on perimeters that you set in accordance with university records retention schedules. Look for more articles in the coming weeks to direct you to resources that will be helpful in setting up a sustainable filing system so you can easily purge messages you no longer need.  

We will be sharing more messages in the coming weeks to direct you to resources that will be helpful in managing your storage more effectively.