How to Configure AutoArchive in Outlook 2003

Microsoft Outlook 2003 is a great way to manage all of the emails that you get.

It has an intuitive interface that makes it easy to read, send, and reply to the email messages that you need for your work or personal life.

But if you find that your Outlook data file is too big and is running slowly, then our tutorial on how to configure AutoArchive in Outlook 2003 can show you an effective way ot take care of that.

How to Set Up the Microsoft Outlook AutoArchive Feature

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Select Tools, then Options.
  3. Choose the Other tab.
  4. Click AutoArchive.
  5. Adjust the settings to your preferences.
  6. Click OK.

Our guide continues below with additional information on how to configure AutoArchive in Outlook 2003, including pictures of these steps.

Outlook 2003 is a great program for managing email.

One problem that I do have with it, however, is how slow it can become once your data file starts to get very large.

Some people like to keep many, many emails in their Inboxes so that they can search for older messages.

But one way to keep older messages in Outlook 2003 while also reducing your Outlook data file size is to configure the AutoArchive feature.

This will force Outlook to automatically archive mail messages that are older than a period of time that you determine.

You can configure AutoArchive to run at a specific interval, and you can even prompt it for your confirmation before it begins to run.

Using the AutoArchive Feature in Outlook 2003 (Guide with Pictures)

I was hesitant to start using AutoArchive at first because Outlook Express had conditioned me not to allow the program to run features like this because it slowed the program down to a crawl.

But now that computers are a lot more powerful and can multi-task with ease, AutoArchive can run in the background while you do other things.

So continue reading below to learn the process necessary to customize the AutoArchive feature to suit your needs.

Once you’re done, learn why a distribution list could be a handy thing to set up if you often send emails to the same group of people.

Step 1: Launch Outlook 2003.

Step 2: Click Tools at the top of the window, then click Options.

outlook 2003, tools then options

Step 3: Click the Other tab at the top of the window.

other tab

Step 4: Click the AutoArchive button at the center of the window.

click autoarchive button

Step 5: Configure the settings on this window to suit your needs.

Some important ones that you should be sure to set up are:

Clean out items older than – Set this to the amount of time for which you want to keep messages in your Inbox

Run AutoArchive every – How often do you want to run AutoArchive?

Prompt before AutoArchive runs – Do you want this tool to run on its’ own? Or do you want to confirm that it is OK for it to run?

configure autoarchive in outlook 2003

Step 6: Click the OK button at the bottom of the window.

Now that you know how to configure AutoArchive in Outlook 2003, you can continue using it to keep your Outlook file at a more manageable file size.

Are you using Outlook 2010 as well? That program has some very interesting options for archiving your messages, contacts and calendars.

You can read the instructions in this article to learn how to archive your calendar. This is a really helpful option if you use your calendar extensively and may need to reference your activities on a particular date again in the future.

Is the fact that Outlook 2003 is running slowly due more to an old computer than an old program? Now is a great time to upgrade to a new laptop. There are many affordable options on the market that will be a significant upgrade to an older machine. You can view Amazon’s most popular laptops here.

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