Clarity Inbox
Guide

How to Archive Emails in Outlook

Microsoft uses the word archive for three separate features. Two of them keep your mail searchable everywhere; one moves it onto a single computer.

Try it with your Outlook
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Outlook's way: three things called archiving

  1. 1The Archive folder. Every Microsoft 365, Exchange and Outlook.com account has one as a default folder. Select a message and press Archive on the toolbar — in classic Outlook it is in the Delete group — and it moves there, still in your mailbox and still searchable on every device.
  2. 2The keyboard shortcut. In classic Outlook, Backspace archives the selected message; Delete sends it to Deleted Items instead. Backspace does not archive a message opened in its own window.
  3. 3AutoArchive. A classic-Outlook-only feature that moves old items to a local .pst file on a schedule. Microsoft states it is not available in new Outlook for Windows.
  4. 4Online Archive. A separate archive mailbox provided by your organisation, which appears as its own entry in the folder list and lives on the server.

The problem

  • ✕AutoArchive's .pst sits on one computer, so archived mail vanishes from your phone and from anyone else's view of the mailbox
  • ✕Archiving is a storage decision, not a triage one — it says nothing about whether a thread was resolved
  • ✕A message archived while you still owed someone a reply is a reply that never gets sent
  • ✕"Archive" in a colleague's instructions may mean any of the three, which is how mail ends up in a .pst nobody can find

What Clarity does: make archiving safe to do fast

  1. 1Clarity categorises each email before you get to it, so you can see which ones need a reply and which are safe to archive on sight.
  2. 2It tracks messages you have sent that got no reply, so archiving a thread does not lose the fact that someone owes you an answer.
  3. 3The morning brief names the threads waiting on you, whether they are in the inbox or the Archive folder.
  4. 4Archiving stays your action. Clarity does not move, archive or delete mail.

What changes

  • ✓Archive by the handful, because what needs a reply is already marked
  • ✓A thread you archived and forgot still surfaces if it went silent on your side
  • ✓Categories travel with the message into the Archive folder
  • ✓Works on Outlook.com and Microsoft 365

Who runs into this

Operations lead

Archives to keep the inbox at zero and then cannot tell which archived threads were actually finished.

Consultant

AutoArchive moved three years of client mail to a .pst on the old laptop.

Anyone near their quota

Told to archive to free space, unsure whether that means the Archive folder or a .pst.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between archiving and deleting in Outlook?

Archiving moves the message to your Archive folder, where it stays in your mailbox and stays searchable. Deleting moves it to Deleted Items, on its way to being removed. In classic Outlook the two even have different keys: Backspace archives, Delete deletes.

Where do archived emails go in Outlook?

To the Archive folder, a default folder in your mailbox alongside Inbox and Sent Items. Because it is part of the mailbox rather than a local file, archived mail is still available on the web, on desktop and on mobile.

Is AutoArchive available in new Outlook?

No. Microsoft states AutoArchive is not available in new Outlook for Windows. It remains in classic Outlook, where it moves old items into a local .pst file.

Does archiving free up mailbox space?

Moving mail to the Archive folder does not, because that folder is part of the same mailbox. AutoArchive to a local .pst does, and so does an Online Archive mailbox if your organisation provides one.

Will Clarity archive emails for me?

No. Clarity categorises mail and drafts replies; moving, archiving and deleting stay with you. What it changes is that you can see what still needs a reply before you archive.

Looking for Microsoft's own documentation? Microsoft's archive documentation

More Outlook guides

How to Create Folders in Outlook

Create folders and subfolders, fill them with rules, and know when a category fits better.

How to Organise Your Outlook Inbox

Folders, categories, rules and Focused Inbox — what each is for and why they decay.

Auto-Categorise Emails with AI

Stop building rules by hand. Clarity reads every email and applies the right Outlook category.

What it costs you

Roughly 9.1 hours a week

Estimate
Writing replies
6.4
Reading & triage
1.1
Follow-up tracking
0.9
Chasing & state
0.7

2.8 hrs of that we could cover

The rest stays yours — it is not repeatable.

106 hrs

a year, if the low end of the range holds

137

threads went quiet and nothing told you

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