✅ 1. Accessing Archive Mail in Outlook Desktop App
Depending on how your organization handles archiving, your archived mail may appear in:
- A folder named Archive
- A separate Online Archive / In‑Place Archive mailbox
- A PST file stored locally on your device
A. Archive Folder (Standard Archive)
- Open Outlook
- In the left navigation pane, look for a folder named Archive
- Expand it to view messages stored by Outlook’s built‑in archive feature
Note: This appears when users manually move items to the Archive folder or use the "Archive" button in Outlook.
B. Online Archive / In‑Place Archive (Enterprise Archiving)
If your mailbox is large or your company uses retention policies, you may see:
📁 Online Archive –
To access it:
- Open Outlook
- In the left folder pane, scroll down past your main mailbox folders
- Look for Online Archive – [Your Name]
- Expand it to view archived folders and emails
Online Archive is stored server‑side and does not take up space on your local machine.
C. Accessing Archive Stored in a PST File
If the archive was done manually on your PC:
- Open Outlook
- Go to File
- Select Open & Export
- Click Open Outlook Data File
- Browse to the PST file (commonly found in
Documents\Outlook Files)
- Open it — a new mailbox section will appear in your folder list
✅ 2. Accessing Archive Mail in Outlook Web Access (Outlook on the Web)
OWA does not support local PST archiving, but you can access:
A. Archive Folder
- Go to: https://outlook.office.com
- Sign in with your work account
- In the folder list, scroll to locate Archive
- Click to open and view items
B. Online Archive (In‑Place Archive)
- Log into Outlook on the Web
- Scroll in the folder list
- You should see In-Place Archive – [Your Name]
- Expand it to access archived folders
If you do not see it, your account may not have archiving enabled — contact IT (or yourself 😉).
✅ 3. If You Cannot Find Your Archive
Try these steps:
✅ 1. Search for archived items
Use the search bar and choose All Mailboxes or All Folders.
✅ 2. Check if archiving is enabled
Go to:Outlook → File → Tools → Mailbox Cleanup → Archive
✅ 3. Confirm Online Archive licensing
Requires:
- Microsoft 365 E3/E5
- Exchange Online Plan 2
✅ 4. Ask IT to verify retention policies
Retention policies may automatically move items into the Online Archive.