Archive Folder vs Online Archive or In-Place Archive in Outlook (2024)

Archiving in Office 365 is one of the important features to keep old messages in a different place. There are several ways to archive messages in Outlook. In this post, I am going to explain the differences between Outlook’s default Archive folder and Online Archive (or In-Place Archive) feature.

Archive Folder

The Archive folder is one of the default folders in Outlook, like Inbox, Sent Items, and the Deleted Items folder. You can move messages to the Archive folder without deleting them. Archiving messages doesn’t reduce mailbox size since the messages are still stored in the user’s primary mailbox but a different folder.

• For Exchange, Outlook.com, and Microsoft Office 365 accounts, the Archive folder is one of Outlook’s default folders, like Inbox, Sent Items, and the Deleted Items folder.
• You can use the Archive button in the Delete group on the ribbon to move messages to the Archive folder without deleting them.
• Just another folder to keep your Inbox clean by moving messages that do not require further focus.
• Do not reduce the size of the user’s primary mailbox.
• Messages can be discoverable from the search box or by navigating to the Archive folder.

Online Archive or In-Place Archive

Online Archive is a feature for Microsoft Office 365 customers. This is a true archiving feature since it will free up space in the user’s primary and move archived mails into the user’s archive mailbox by keeping the same folder structure.

• Online or In-Place archive will not be enabled by default, admin needs to enable this feature through Exchange Online admin center or using PowerShell.
• Older messages (mails of a certain age) are moved automatically by retention policies, you can also manually move messages or set Outlook rules to move.
• Once activated, users will have an additional mailbox which is called an archive mailbox.
• Online Archive acts as a second account in Outlook. In Outlook Desktop, you can see a folder group with the prefix Online Archive (ex: Online Archive –[emailprotected]). In Outlook Online (OWA), you can see a folder group with the prefix In-Place Archive (ex: In-Place Archive – Alex Wilber).
• It is used to free up space in the user’s primary mailbox by moving messages to the archive mailbox.
• Archived messages can’t be discoverable from the user’s primary Inbox search.

Read the following posts to learn more details about the Outlook Archive feature.

Archive in Outlook for Windows »

Archive features in Exchange Online Archiving »