I'm fairly new to system administration and I've come across an issue where some users have Outlook OST files that are around 30-60GB in size. My boss suggested archiving these files and storing them on the server. I'd love to get a better understanding of how this process works so I can discuss it knowledgeably with him next time. Can anyone explain the steps involved in archiving and how users can search for older emails in their archives? Also, would switching to the New Outlook help with the issue of large OST files since it functions more like OWA? We're using Azure Active Directory and MS Exchange Admin 365. Thanks for any insights!
1 Answer
If you're using M365 Exchange Online, enabling the online archive for those large mailboxes is a great way to manage size. Set the system to archive anything older than two years, which is often the default setting. This makes the archived data appear as a separate mailbox in Outlook, meaning it won't take up space in an OST file. Most users see up to an 80% reduction in mailbox size, improving Outlook's performance dramatically. It's really just a few clicks to set this up!
This is great! I will look into this. Thanks!