archiving inbox

[hmbterry]

When I archive old mail my subfolders are saved fine but my in box contents disappear . What am I doing wrong?

[HansV]

Right-click your Inbox in the navigation pane.
Select Properties from the popup menu.
Activate the AutoArchive tab.
What are the AutoArchive settings for your Inbox?

[hmbterry]

It was set to do not archive because I got tired of losing old email.If I set it to default settings l lose everything. I couldn't find anywhere where it said anything about deleting in box contents.

[HansV]

And what are the default AutoArchive settings? (Tools | Options..., Other tab, AutoArchive)

[hmbterry]

There is the check box that says delete expired items. I just unchecked it. Was that my problem? What are expired items?

[HansV]

When you send an e-mail using Outlook, you can specify that the message expires after a certain date: while composing the e-mail message, click Options in the toolbar or select View | Options...

Ticking the "Delete expired items" means that messages for which an expiration date has been set will be deleted during AutoArchive if their expiration date has passed. It has no effect on messages without an expiration date, so it is unlikely that this explains the disappearance of *all* messages from the inbox during AutoArchive - by default, messages have no expiration date.

You could check whether a filter has been set on the Inbox folder under your Archive Folders - activate this folder, and select View | Arrange By | Current View | Customize Current View... (this is for Outlook 2003, it may be slightly different in other versions).

[hmbterry]

I am currently using 2007. I've had this problem with all the other versions of Outlook I've used in the past. I've just never written about it before. What I've always done is just turn it off and drag old email to the archive folders, it's easy enough and safer. I've stared and stared at those settings. It's very consistent as long as I put everything in subfolders it archives perfectly.

[JoeP517]

I am currently using 2007. I've had this problem with all the other versions of Outlook I've used in the past. I've just never written about it before. What I've always done is just turn it off and drag old email to the archive folders, it's easy enough and safer. I've stared and stared at those settings. It's very consistent as long as I put everything in subfolders it archives perfectly.

Have you double checked to make sure the path and file name of the archive file for the archive settings is the same as the one you are checking in Outlook?

Joe