Exchange Online Archive mailbox is not displaying in Outlook – What to do?

Aftab Alam | Updated On - November 03, 2022 |

Read time 7 minutes

Have you ever deleted an important email from your mailbox and repented on your mistake? Later, when you search for such emails, then you may not find it. When the mailbox size increases because of the volume of emails, it becomes chaotic to manage these emails. This also decreases the speed of the functioning of the Outlook program. But the Archiving feature of Exchange Server reduces your hardships by creating a separate mailbox that is similar to your primary mailbox. This keeps all the old emails that you have moved from the primary mailbox.

You can also access the Archive mailbox like any other mailbox and search for the emails and access them easily.

When you have created the Archive mailbox and moved the emails to it, sometimes it stops showing in Outlook. This can be a worrisome situation for you. You need to troubleshoot such condition and Microsoft has given some workarounds to fix the issue of Exchange Online Archive mailbox not showing in Outlook.

Method 1. Use Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant

If you were trying to access the Online Archive mailbox of any other user, then you can use the Microsoft Support and Recovery tool to scan the Outlook and find any possible shortcomings. It will run the advanced diagnostics to report various problems and details of your Outlook configuration. You can get the information of the tool at the following location: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/about-the-microsoft-support-and-recovery-assistant-e90bb691-c2a7-4697-a94f-88836856c72f?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Download the tool and start running the scan. The following is the procedure;

1. When the tool runs, it shows multiple apps that you can choose. It will ask you which app you are having problems with. Choose the last one- Advanced Diagnostics.
   
2. Choose Outlook and click Next.
   
3. The tool will ask you if you are running the tool at the same computer that is affected. Click Yes. Then click Next.
   
4. Input the details of your Exchange Online account that you are using in the Outlook. After inputting the credentials, click Next.
   
5. The tool will first validate your account’s credentials and then, run the scan. Let it complete the scan.
   
6. Finally, you have a detailed report showing all the issues found in the scan. You can further choose to have a detailed view or configuration summary. Click Next.
   

The user requires the full access permission rights to access the Archive mailbox of another user and the full permission has to be granted by the Administrator. Because then only the user will see the primary and Archive mailbox in the Outlook Web App and Outlook. You can assign this permission in Exchange Admin Center using the steps given below:

1. In Exchange Admin Center, go to recipients. Here, there are three options that you can choose – Mailboxes, Resources, and Shared.
   
2. Choose Mailboxes and from the list of mailboxes, you need to select the mailbox that you want to have the full access permission. Click the Edit icon.
   
3. The Edit option will open the mailbox properties page. Go to the last option of Mailbox Delegation and there are three options – Send As, Send on Behalf, and Full Access. Click Full Access.
   
4. In the Full Access Category, choose the mailbox that you want to provide the full access. Click Save.
   
5. The message will show you that your changes are saved. Click OK.
   

To access the Exchange Online Archive mailbox in the Outlook, the user should have the Office 365 ProPlus license. To check the user license type, go to Office 365 Admin Center and verify that the user has the adequate license type.

Sometimes, you may not be seeing the Exchange Online Archive mailbox in an older version of Outlook. So, you only need to update Outlook with the latest available version to check the availability of the Archive mailbox in it.

Conclusion

The Archive mailbox may have some important emails in it that you have moved from your primary mailbox. So, if you are unable to view the Archive mailbox, then you will not be able to access such mails. That’s why you should take the backup of your mailbox at the earliest using Kernel Office 365 Backup and Restore tool. The tool allows you to Export Office 365 to PST. Which means you can access your primary mailbox, Archive mailbox, and public folder and make a backup of them in a PST file. The advantage is that you will always have access to your PST file.