CommuniGate Mail Archiving and Cleanup with Outlook 2007 - JAARS

CommuniGate Mail Archiving and Cleanup with 

Outlook 2007 

Some users are hitting quota limits in CommuniGate e-mail accounts. In other words, there are 

too many e-mails in their account folders on the server. Here are some methods that will help 

keep your mail under control and under quota. 

AutoArchive 

Cleaning Up Mail Folders (Inbox, Sent, etc.) 

Creating Local Personal Folders to Store Messages 

Microsoft has developed instruction videos that can be found here: 

Manage your mailbox I: Find its size and trim it down 

Manage your mailbox II: Understand your choices for storing 

Manage your mailbox III: Move or copy messages to Personal Folders 

Manage your mailbox IV: Archive old messages 

Manage your mailbox V: Retrieve, back up, or share messages 

To get the full benefit of these videos, you will need speakers or a headset. Even without sound 

you can read the text (it matches the audio). One thing to keep in mind as you clean up your 

mailbox is whether retaining copies of all those e-mails is necessary. If you really need to keep 

them, they can be stored in other locations. Another consideration is how long you need to keep 

the messages. Some may need to be retained for 90 days or longer, but others can be deleted 

immediately. 

The default size limit of a normal CommuniGate User account is 200 MB. When the size of 

your mailbox reaches 90% (180 MB) capacity you will receive an e-mail message to warn you 

that you are approaching the limit. You can easily check the size of your folders. 

At the bottom of the Navigation Pane, click 

Folder List. 

At the bottom of Folder List, click Folder Sizes. 

The Folder Size dialog box shows the sizes of 

each mail folder. 

If you exceed the limit you will no longer be able 

to send or receive mail until you delete or move 

some of the e-mails. This total size is calculated 

by adding the sizes all of the e-mails in all the

Understanding how much mail you have accumulated 2 

folders together. This includes your Inbox, Sent, and Trash folders. 

Attachments are included in the size calculation. For example, you may receive an e-mail from a 

colleague that is less than 5 KB depending on what they actually wrote, while the total size of the 

e-mail may be greater than 5 MB because of an attachment. 

Understanding how much mail you have accumulated 

name 

may be easier by viewing the following table. 

number of bytes amount of text 

kilobyte (KB) 2 10 or 1,024 1/2 page 

megabyte (MB) 2 20 or 1,048,576 500 pages or 1 thick book 

Since the default user account is 200 MB, this equals 209,715,200 characters or approximately 

100,000 pages. So… if you are getting close to the limit this means you have an enormous 

amount of e-mail on the server. This may not mean that you have that many pages of e-mail. 

What is more likely is that you may have many attachments, such as pictures, that consume a 

large amount of space. 

AutoArchive 

A special note about using AutoArchive: when you use this feature and select to move the items 

archived, e-mails that are archived are no longer stored on the CommuniGate server but are 

stored on the hard drive of your computer. When you use this feature and select to permanently 

deleted the items archived, e-mails that are archived are no longer stored anywhere. You 

should take measures to be sure you have a backup copy of the archive folders. Microsoft offers 

a free add-on for Outlook that will allow you to backup your personal folders. You can get it 

here Download pfbackup.exe. 

For campus users at Jaars and Dallas with MAPI accounts the AutoArchive feature is turned off 

(at the folder level) by default. It does work with MAPI accounts. There is some documentation 

about this in the Outlook 2007 Basic E-mail Reference Manual, pages 29 to 31. If you installed 

Outlook on your personal computer AutoArchive is enabled by default. 

AutoArchive does not work with IMAP accounts. You can however move items from this type 

of account into your Local Personal Folders or set rules so that when mail is received a copy is 

automatically created in Local Personal Folders on your computer. 

AutoArchive does work with POP3 accounts. This may be the case with your personal 

computer. If your account is setup to receive e-mail with this type of account your messages are 

automatically downloaded and removed from the server to your personal computer, unless 

“Leave a copy of messages on the server” is selected in your e-mail account Advanced settings 

tab. (Tools, Account Settings…, Your User Account, Change…, More Settings…, 

Advanced) 

CommuniGate_Mail_Archiving_and_Cleanup_with_Outlook_2007.doc 

6/1/2010 4:59 PM

AutoArchive 3 

To use the AutoArchive feature to move 

the items archived: 

1. Click Tools, and then Options… 

2. Select the Other tab. 

3. Click the AutoArchive button. 

4. Change Run AutoArchive every 14 

days to 1 day. 

5. Uncheck Prompt before 

AutoArchive runs. 

6. If you would like to select a location to 

store the archive other than the default, 

click the Browse… button. 

7. Click Apply these settings to all 

folders now. Some folders will need 

custom settings, described in the next 

section of this document. 

8. Click OK, and then click OK again to 

close the Options dialog box. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

AutoArchive 4 

Note that all messages older than 6 months will purged daily from your email folders and put in 

your archive folders. Note: MAPI Users – check each individual folder’s AutoArchive settings. 

The settings in Tools | Options | AutoArchive will only apply to folders set to AutoArchive 

according to the default settings. These settings will not apply to folders with AutoArchive set to 

“Do not archive…”. (SEE Page 5) 

You may want to change the location of the storage folder as referenced in step 6 above, to make 

it easier to copy or backup the archive file to a location other than your hard drive such as a CD 

or USB flash drive. This is not a recommendation. The information provided is for convenience 

only. 

You can navigate to the location using the following steps. 

1. Click on File, and then Data File Management… 

2. Select Archive Folders in 

the list and then click Open 

Folder… 

Care should be taken not to delete the file from this location. You can right click on the file 

name and select Copy in order to copy the file to another location. Archive files are not 

automatically backed up unless your backup software is configured to do so. 

The default location is in a hidden folder and will not be visible in the Windows Explorer file 

system unless your Folder Options allow you to view hidden files. 

The default location under Windows XP is: 

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application 

Data\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst. 

For Windows 7 the location is: 

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\archive.pst. 

Username is your Windows logon name. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

Customizing AutoArchive settings for Individual Folders 5 

Customizing AutoArchive settings for Individual Folders 

You will want to check each individual folder’s Auto Archive settings to ensure that Auto 

Archive is set the way you want for each of your folders. There are certain folders such as the 

Trash folder that should not be auto archived to Move the items archived. Instead the Trash 

folder should be auto archived to Permanently delete old items. Check the Calendar folder 

settings. You may want to set the Calendar to “Do not archive…” or to “Permanently delete” 

calendar items older than 12 months, rather than 6 months. You may have other folders that you 

do not want to archive or you wish to change the defaults for. This example will use the Trash 

folder as an illustration. 

1. Begin either by clicking Folder List in the lower left area of your main Outlook 

interface, or by clicking Go on the pull down menu and then click Folder List. 

2. Right click on the folder name you intend to use custom settings for, and then click on 

Properties. 

We will use the Trash folder for this example but the same process can be used for the 

Calendar or other folders as noted at the beginning of this section. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

6 

3. When the dialog box opens, click 

on the AutoArchive tab. 

4. If you are modifying the Trash 

folder properties, we recommend 

that the Trash folder be set to: 

Archive this folder using these 

settings, older than 2 Days, 

Permanently delete old items. 

If you are modifying the Calendar 

folder properties: 

Archive this folder using these 

settings, older than 12 months, 

Permanently delete old items. 

5. For other folders, select the radio 

button Archive this folder using 

these settings: 

6. Clean out items older than X 

Months can be changed by 

increasing or decreasing the 

number, or by changing the interval 

from Months, to Weeks or Days. 

7. You may specify a location other 

than the default to store the 

archive.pst for this folder by selecting Move old items to: and then click Browse…. OR 

you may specify Permanently delete old items. 

8. Click OK. 

Note: if you change the default location in step 7 a new unique archive file will be created. You 

should name the new archive.pst file to a unique name that matches the folder you are working 

with. For example, if you are changing the defaults for a folder named Wycliffe to a different 

location, the archive file could be named Wycliffe_archive.pst. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

Cleaning Up Mail Folders (Inbox, Sent, etc.) 7 

Cleaning Up Mail Folders (Inbox, Sent, etc.) 

Here is one way to simplify the task of cleaning up your folders. Change your view so sorting by 

Size, Subject, From, etc is easier to manage. 

1. Click View. 

2. Point to Reading Pane. 

3. Select Off. 

Now your list of e-mails will be arranged in a table format. You can select any of the headings 

to quickly sort the list of e-mails for any folder you have selected. 

Default headings are From, 

Subject, Received, Size, 

and Categories. 

Size was selected for this 

example. The results are 

grouped from large to 

small, classified as: Huge 

(1-5 MB), Very Large (500 

KB - 1 MB), Large (100 - 

500 KB), etc. 

In this way you can very 

quickly locate in each 

folder the largest of your e- 

mails, those that are taking the most space on the server. You can also sort e-mails from 

individuals by clicking on the From column. If you receive a number e-mails from a particular 

individual containing attachments that are quite large, this will give you an easy way to isolate 

these so that you can save the attachments to a folder of your choice. For example, you might 

create a folder in your My Documents folder named Joe User to store all of the attachments 

from him. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM


Using Search Folders 

Search folders provide another way to find large messages. In the Navigation Pane on the left 

side of your Outlook interface, you’ll find an item at the bottom of your Mail Folders list called 

Search Folders. 

1. Click on the “+” beside Search Folders. 

2. Click on Large Mail. 

If you are viewing e-mail as described on the page you 

will now find a new heading after Categories named In 

Folder. The list will be sorted from largest to smallest 

the first time that you do this. If you click on another 

heading the list will sort according to that. Outlook will 

remember which heading you selected the next time you open the program. Although these 

results are displayed as a folder, the contents are simply pointers to the original e-mail in its 

original folder. However, if you delete an e-mail from this search folder it will be deleted 

from the containing folder. 

How to Create a Custom Search for Large 

Messages/Attachments 

1. In Outlook, on the File menu, point to New, and 

then click Search Folder… to open the New 

Search Folder dialog box, or press 

CTRL+SHIFT+P. 

2. Scroll down till you get to the Organizing Mail 

section under Select a Search Folder: 

3. Click Large Mail. 

4. Under Customize Search Folder, click the 

Choose button. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM


5. Specify the size in kilobytes for individual e- 

mails. 

6. Click OK. 

7. Click OK. 

The new search folder will have been placed in your list 

of Search Folders in the Navigation Pane. 

8. Right click on Larger than 500 KB. 

9. Click Customize this Search 

Folder… 

10. Click Browse, select the folders 

that you want searched, and then 

click OK two times. 

You can delete any custom searches created 

like this later. Deleting the search will not 

delete the contents of the e-mails. However, 

as stated previously, deleting an e-mail 

from the list of a custom search will delete 

the e-mail from its original folder. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

Creating Local Personal Folders to Store Messages 10 

Creating Local Personal Folders to 

Store Messages 

It is important to understand the difference between 

local Personal Folders and folders on the 

CommuniGate server. Creating extra folders on the 

server does not result in free space. 

These folders are examples of local personal folders 

that were added to store e-mail from specific 

accounts or for a specific purpose. 

These local personal folders are created by default 

when Outlook is installed. (Not always the case with 

MAPI, see below) 

These are default folders created on the 

CommuniGate server for a user. If you create 

folders or subfolders here you will still be using 

space on the server. 

If you do not have any Personal Folders 

already, you can create one. 

1. Click File. 

2. Point to New. 

3. Click Outlook Data File… 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM


The New Outlook Data File dialog box will 

open. 

4. Select Office Outlook Personal Folders 

File (.pst). 

5. Click OK. 

The Create or Open Outlook Data File dialog box will open to the default location. 

6. Type a file name. 

7. Click OK. 

Now that you have created a Personal Folders mail folder you can begin to create folders and 

subfolders within that folder. 

See the next page. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM


You may create as many folders and subfolders as you wish, 

naming them in ways that are meaningful to you. Here’s how to 

do it. 

1. In the Navigation Pane right click on Personal Folders 

2. Click New Folder… 

The Create New Folder dialog box will open. 

3. Type a name for your new folder. 

4. Click on Personal Folders in the area Select 

where to place the folder: to highlight it, or click 

the plus mark in the box next to that to select a 

sub folder. 

5. Click OK. 

The new folder now appears in your list of folders in the 

Navigation Pane. Be sure to set the AutoArchive feature for this 

new folder to your desired settings. 

You can manually move e-mails from your CommuniGate folders into the new folders or you 

may create rules to move or copy the e-mails automatically after they arrive. 

On the next page there is an example of how to manually move large e-mail items. The items 

were selected using techniques from pages 7 & 8 of this document. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM


1. Select multiple items by clicking the first item in 

the list, and then while holding the Shift key, click 

the last item in the list. 

2. Right click anywhere on the highlighted list. 

3. Select Move to Folder… 

4. Scroll to the folder you 

want to use and select it. 

5. Click OK. 

Using the above as an example, a better idea would be to create a folder under My Documents 

named Albert G, save the attachments, and then delete the e-mails. 

And as a final note to all this, consider deleting older e-mails as much as possible even if you use 

the AutoArchive feature. The reason for this is that there is a limit to the size of the PST files 

that you will be using for your Personal Folders and Archive Folders. For Outlook 2007 the 

default is 20 GB. While it is likely that you may never exceed that limit, it is a good practice to 

clean out your e-mail boxes anyway. 


6/1/2010 4:59 PM

CommuniGate Mail Archiving and Cleanup with Outlook 2007 - JAARS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?