How to Archive Emails to my local hard disk

As messages gather in your in-box, your Outlook data file can grow to extremely large sizes. This eats up system resources and increases the time Outlook takes to load. If you don't want to delete messages, consider archiving them. One way to archive is to use the File | Archive command, fill in the options in the Archive dialog box, and choose OK.

 Below is a guide to help you on your way.

Requirements:

• MS Outlook    ( not Outlook Express)

• ample space on a computer disk to store your mail on.

Preparation:

Create a folder where you will like to store your archive files.

Hint:  Open  My Documents and within My Documents Make a new folder called EmailArchives  

Now that you have created a place for your archives let us begin...

Notes:
To prevent an item from being archived either manually or automatically:
Right Click an open message or on a mail folder choose "Properties".
Select "Do not autoarchive this item"
Click OK
 

1. Open your outlook and decide what we want to archive.   Lets start by archiving all email older than 2005 and store it as 2004.pst  ( the .pst extension lets Outlook know that it is a Outlook email file)

2. Click on File -> Archive
    

3. in the subsequent box select the folder click on browse then my documents then EmailArchives
      →  ↓
    →
   
   In the file name type 2004.pst or any name you wish ie:  myarchivefrom2004andolder.pst and then click OK

4. In the field Archvie items older than:  put 1/1/2005 to archive all of 2004 and older.
   

5. Click OK and Outlook will now start archiving emails.

6. On the left side of outlook you will see that there is now a folder called Archive Folders  Unfortunately,  Microsoft  names all the folders with the same name so that when you have several archives, they call will look alike.
   
   To fix this we will rename Archive Folders properties so that it will show up as 2005 Archive in the Outlook list

7. Right click on Archive Folders  and select Properties -> Advanced and rename Archive Folders  to 2005 Archives
   →↓
   Rename to →
   ... and press OK to get
   
    

8. Success!!  now to close your Archive ,  right click on the archive in the list and select close
   

9. Now you can repeat for other years like archive all 2005 and older then all of 2006 and older .  and well you get the idea.

But wait!! How do I get view my archives again?  simple...    In outlook go to File,  Open Outlook Data File
and select MY Documents and your email directory ie EmailArchives   and then click on your archive.  

Try it again and you will get the hang of  it and now you know how easy it is to keep your old email organized off the server!

IMPORTANT.   KEEP A COPY OF YOUR ARCHIVES SAVED ON A BACKUP JUST IN CASE!!