Vantage uses Microsoft 365 Online Archive to help manage mailbox storage. Older messages are automatically moved from your primary mailbox to a separate Online Archive, where they remain available and searchable.

The current automatic settings are:

• Most employees: Email older than two years is moved to the Online Archive.
• Customer Service: Email older than six months is moved to the Online Archive.

You do not need to manually move routine email. However, you should periodically remove unnecessary messages and may apply an approved archive or retention rule to specific folders.

Online Archive versus the Archive folder

These are not the same:

• Online Archive – Your Name is a separate Microsoft 365 mailbox used for long-term email storage.
• The regular Archive folder is simply a folder inside your primary mailbox. Moving messages there does not reduce the size of your primary mailbox.

Microsoft archive policies control when messages are moved from the primary mailbox to the Online Archive. Retention policies control how long messages are kept before deletion.

Access your Online Archive in Outlook on the web

1. Open Outlook on the web and sign in with your Vantage account.
2. In the folder list on the left, scroll down.
3. Locate Online Archive – Your Name or In-Place Archive – Your Name.
4. Select the arrow next to it to display the archive folders.
5. Open folders such as Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, or any folders that were moved from your primary mailbox.

You can search the Online Archive using the search box at the top of Outlook. Select an archive folder before searching to narrow the search to that location.

Maintain and clean up your Online Archive

Good cleanup candidates include:

• Automated notifications that are no longer useful
• Old newsletters and marketing messages
• Obsolete delivery and tracking notifications
• Completed meeting notices
• Duplicate messages
• Routine reports that are permanently stored in another approved Vantage system
• Large attachments that are already stored in SharePoint, OneDrive, the ERP, or another approved business system

Do not delete messages containing:

• Customer approvals, commitments, complaints, claims, or disputes
• Contracts or important pricing decisions
• Legal notices or investigation-related information
• Information you have specifically been instructed to preserve
  
• You can use retention labels available in Outlook to help with the process 

Downloading an attachment to your computer is not sufficient. Confirm that the official copy is stored in an approved Vantage system before deleting the email.

Delete unnecessary archive messages

1. Expand Online Archive – Your Name.
2. Open the applicable archive folder.
3. Select the messages you no longer need.
4. Select Delete.
5. Delete messages in manageable batches rather than thousands at once.

Deleted archive messages are first moved to the Deleted Items folder inside the Online Archive.

Empty the archive’s Deleted Items folder

1. Expand Online Archive – Your Name.
2. Find Deleted Items underneath the Online Archive.
3. Review the contents before proceeding.
4. Right-click Deleted Items.
5. Select Empty folder.
6. Confirm the action.

Be careful to select the Deleted Items folder under Online Archive – Your Name, not only the Deleted Items folder under your regular mailbox.

Deleted messages may remain recoverable for a limited period, and Vantage retention requirements may preserve certain content after it is removed from your visible mailbox.

Approved policies available in Outlook on the web

The available options are established by Vantage IT. You can create your own retention periods.

1. In Outlook on the web, select the Settings gear in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Mail.
3. Select Retention policies.
4. Select Add new policy.
5. Select the policies you want available in Outlook.
6. Select Add or Save.

Depending on your account, available archive options may include:

• Personal six months move to archive
• Personal one year move to archive
• Personal five years move to archive
• Personal never move to archive

Deletion options may also appear. Do not apply a deletion policy unless you understand that it can automatically delete messages after the specified period.

The company’s automatic mailbox policy remains in effect unless an approved personal policy is applied to a specific folder or message. Personal tags can be applied to individual folders and messages to change how those items are handled.

Apply an archive policy to a folder

Use this when you want email in a specific folder moved to the Online Archive sooner or later than the mailbox default.

1. In Outlook on the web, right-click the folder.
2. Select Assign policy.
3. Locate the Archive policy section.
4. Select the appropriate option, such as:
   • Six months
   • One year
   • Five years
   • Never move to archive
   • Use parent folder policy
5. The selected policy will apply to messages in that folder.

Selecting Use parent folder policy removes the folder-specific exception and returns the folder to the policy inherited from the mailbox or its parent folder.

Apply a policy to individual messages

1. Select one or more messages.
2. Right-click the selected messages, or select the More actions menu.
3. Select Assign policy.
4. Choose the applicable archive or retention option.

The policy may not process the message immediately. Microsoft 365 applies archive and retention settings through background processing.

Important distinction between archive and deletion policies

An archive policy moves messages to the Online Archive. It does not delete them.

A retention or deletion policy can delete messages after the selected period. Use deletion policies cautiously. Microsoft recommends Online Archive policies for moving mailbox content and Microsoft Purview retention controls for organizational retention requirements.

Please contact IT when:

• Your Online Archive is missing.
• You receive a mailbox or archive capacity warning.
• You cannot select an expected policy.
• Messages are not moving as expected.
• You are uncertain whether information may be deleted.
• You believe a message is subject to a legal, customer, financial, or regulatory requirement.

Thank you,