Enable an Archive Mailbox in Exchange Online
Activating an archive mailbox in Exchange Online increases storage space and saves old emails instead of deleting them. Archives mailbox comes with storage space from 50 GB to 100 GB, which increases up to 1.5TB per user in the higher plans. All archive mailboxes are only cloud-based, so your archived emails are stored securely and do not occupy the space of your email client. Before migrating archived mailboxes with the EdbMails Office 365 migration software, the archive mailbox needs to be enabled in the Office 365 Exchange Admin Center.
Note: Before proceeding, verify that the designated user or users have been assigned an appropriate Microsoft 365 license that supports the archive mailbox (In-Place Archive) feature. Refer to this link for Microsoft 365 licensing details.
Enable Office 365 Archive Mailboxes Methods:
There are two methods you can enable the archive mailbox in Exchange Online. You can choose one from the list below:
- Method 1: Exchange admin center
- Method 2: Windows PowerShell Commands
Steps to Enable Archive Mailboxes using Office 365 Exchange Admin Center
- Login to Office 365 Exchange Admin center
- Navigate to ‘Recipients’ > ‘Mailboxes’ from the left pane
- Select the user whose archive mailbox you wish to enable. In the pane that appears, select the ‘Others’ tab, then click ‘Manage mailbox archive’
- Now, switch the toggle to ‘Enabled’ and click ‘Save’.
Windows PowerShell Commands to Enable Archive Mailboxes
Run the below Windows PowerShell commands (Run As Administrator)
Run the following command to install Exchange Online PowerShell Module if it is not installed
Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
Execute the below command and connect to your Office 365 account using the Global Admin account.
Copy & Paste it on PowerShellConnect-ExchangeOnline
For a single user:
Copy & Paste it on PowerShellEnable-Mailbox -Identity <user upn=""> -Archive
Replace <user upn=""> with the user's UPN.
For all users:
Copy & Paste it on PowerShellGet-Mailbox -Filter {ArchiveStatus -Eq "None" -AND RecipientTypeDetails -Eq "UserMailbox"} | Enable-Mailbox -Archive
Note: Use this script to enable archive mailboxes for all user mailboxes. To enable archive mailboxes for shared mailboxes, first assign them a license and then rerun the command, replacing UserMailbox with SharedMailbox.
For specific users:
$users = Import-CSV <filepath>
foreach ($user in $users) {
Enable-Mailbox -Identity $user.UPN -Archive
}
Execute line by line of code, insert the path to your exported CSV file where you list the UPNs of the users to whom you would like to enable archive mailboxes. Ensure that the column name in your CSV file, in which you listed UPNs, is named UPN. If you have used a different column header name for UPN, change your PowerShell command accordingly.
Run the below command to disconnect from Exchange Online
Disconnect-ExchangeOnline
