Outlook Archive not working properly

Azy1412 211

 a user is having difficulty with archive  feature in Outlook.

OS: Windows 10 64x
Outlook 2019 64x

File > Cleanup Tools > Archive > Archive items older than: Sun 5/17/2020
only 4 email were archived (3 in 2019 and 1 in January 2020)

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-20T06:28:46.757+00:00

Hi @Azy1412 , I'm writing to see how things are going with this issue. If it has been resolved, you can share your solution or click Accept as Answer below the useful post. This could be beneficial to others reading this thread. If you still need help on this, just feel free to post back.
beno 1 Reputation point

2022-01-24T01:06:18.46+00:00

neither solution worked for me. office 365 Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2111 Build 16.0.14701.20254) 64-bit
on to the next suggestion.

Accepted answer

Azy1412 211 Reputation points

2021-01-13T06:15:26.677+00:00

Update: Issue is resolved.

I disabled all COM Addins for the user, restarted Outlook and reenabled the COM Addins back.
After that archiving worked as intended.

@Manu Philip , @Yuki Sun-MSFT thank you both for your help and I wish you have a good year!
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2 people found this answer helpful.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-13T06:34:29.273+00:00

Hi @Azy1412 , Happy to know that you've sorted it out and thanks for sharing your solution with us! You can accept your post as answer to close this up and meanwhile make answer searching easier for other users who encounter a similar issue. Thanks!

Have a good year :-)

FFlintstone 0 Reputation points

2023-06-07T17:35:59.2833333+00:00

I have been having an issue for months with autoarchive not running automatically. Tried all the recommended fixes - registry edit, scan.pst, autoarchive settings,... and nothing had worked. Came across this suggestion to disable/re-enable com add-ins and voila! Thanks a million.
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3 additional answers

Manu Philip 19,426 Reputation points MVP

2020-08-16T14:10:00.617+00:00

I am aware of a fix as below:
Open Registry Editor>Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
Create a DWORD 'ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime' and set the value as 1.
Close registry editor and outlook and re-open outlook. Check if the archiving starts correctly
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10 people found this answer helpful.
Azy1412 211 Reputation points

2020-08-27T10:20:45.003+00:00

Hi @Manu Philip ,

I didn't find the preferences folder in the registry editor. (see image below)

User has Outlook 2016.

Regards and thank you for the reply

Sumit Ghulyani 1 Reputation point

2021-04-07T12:53:22.28+00:00

You made my day. I was struggling with this issue since months now

Abhilash Nair 1 Reputation point

2021-06-05T17:29:08.327+00:00

You saved my day, thanks Manu

johnf 1 Reputation point

2021-06-27T08:54:07.393+00:00

Excellent fix, thank you

Scott Hendison 1 Reputation point

2021-07-02T17:01:33.597+00:00

Worked like a charm, thank you!

B L 1 Reputation point

2022-07-10T16:20:54.447+00:00

Hello Manu,
Wow! After days of searching how to fix this same issue, your solution helped me fix it, thank you, you also made my day, I would even say my week!
Regards,
B.
Montreal

Jennifer Richardson 0 Reputation points

2023-03-23T12:13:57.22+00:00

worked perfectly!!

Apurba Samanta 0 Reputation points

2023-07-23T15:51:14.9933333+00:00

In registry Outlook\Preferences is not available, in this case what to do

Wesley Lao | MACROKIOSK 0 Reputation points

2023-11-30T01:58:14.3633333+00:00

thank you, it works!

Frans S 0 Reputation points

2023-12-14T11:48:44.96+00:00

I was struggling with this issue for weeks, but now it's solved!

Michael Pantarelli 0 Reputation points

2024-08-19T15:29:28.9+00:00

You, sir, are a steely-eyed missile man! This has plagued me for a while.

Melan Chandana 0 Reputation points

2025-02-10T06:12:59.5833333+00:00

Thanks bro. Finally found the solution. :)
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Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-17T02:35:36.997+00:00
By default, Outlook archives Email messages based on the received date or the last modified date and time, whichever is later, see this KB article. So agree with Manu that the issue could be related to the modified date of the old messages. To verify this, you can view the modified date using the steps below:

Switch to the Preview view by clicking View > Change View > Preview.

Add the Modified Column by clicking View Settings > Columns, select "Date/Time fields" > Modified, click Add to add it to the view:

You may click on the Column titile "Modified" to sort the messages based on the modified date and time.

Once confirmed that the issue is due to the Modified date, you can follow the suggestions shared by Manu to add the 'ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime' registry. Just do remember to back up the registry for restoration before modifying it in case problem occurs.

Furthermore, if the issue is not with the modified date, please double confirm that the correct folder is selected under the "Archive this folder and all subfolders" option. And the "Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings" option is NOT accidentally selected.
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-24T09:19:15.867+00:00

I'd like to follow up with you to see if the information above was useful. Any update would be appreciated.

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Azy1412 211 Reputation points

2020-08-27T09:53:41.13+00:00

Dear YukiSun apologies for the late reply ,

for the registry editor solution, I didn't find it in the registry editor. (see image below)

Outlook 2016.

Regards ,

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,216 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-08-28T02:07:34.9+00:00

Hi @Azy1412 ,

Important: Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.

Please double confrim that you are looking at the correct registry path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences

Or you can download the attached .txt file below, change the file extension from ".txt" to ".reg", then run the file to import the registry entry by double clicking it.
21063-archiveignorelastmodifiedtime.txt

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Frans S 0 Reputation points

2023-12-14T11:50:49.95+00:00

I was struggling with archiving issue for weeks, but this showed the rootcause and now it's solved!
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Jerry935 1 Reputation point

2021-12-27T14:08:30.657+00:00

And don't forget the obvious...make sure you have free storage available at the time you archive!!!! Running low on free space results in odd behavior when attempting to archive.
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Chris Mobbs 1 Reputation point

2022-02-01T01:32:25.967+00:00

Dumb question, but how do I change the extension - I have tried but the system keeps treating it as a TXT file no matter what I do.
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Outlook Archive not working properly

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