Polk County Public Schools, Staff

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E-mail Archive FAQs

I'm having trouble finding email in my archive. Can you help?

There are three ways to locate an email message in the archive.

  1. Do a simple search in the Quick Search view. If you know the email was about purple people eaters, search on the term "eaters" because it is less likely to appear in other emails.
  2. Do an Advanced Search if there are no unique terms you can use or remember. If you know you received it during the month of August, you can define that time frame. If you know it was an email that you sent, you can set it to only look in your Sent Items.
  3. Browse your mailbox. In Browse view, you will see a mirror image of your Outlook mailbox organization. If you always move certain email to a certain folder, you can simply go to that same folder in the archive and scroll through the messages to find the one you want. Still need help? See how to Organize your Outlook email to best utilize the browse view in Mimosa.

Why do I see duplicate items in my Mimosa Archive?

When browsing or searching the Mimosa Archive, under the Filter button, you will note two options to hide or display "Deleted Items" and "History". By choosing "hide" the duplicate items will no longer show in your search results. These are actually not duplicates but pointers to the same item showing where an item used to exist or had been deleted from.

Displaying Deleted Items will show items that have been deleted from your Exchange mailbox. Therefore, they currently only exist in the archived items. It will show the item where it was deleted from. For example, if you deleted the item from your "Inbox" folder it would show up there.

Display History will show where items have been moved from. For example, let's say an item was moved from "Inbox" to "Saved Items" and then finally to "Reports". By having the History displayed, it would show up in all of these locations. If it was not checked, the item would only show up in the last location. In this case, "Reports".

How long are items kept in my Outlook/Webmail mailbox (on the Exchange e-mail servers)?

You will be able to see 120 days worth of e-mail messages in your Outlook mailbox. However, not every mailbox item will be subject to the 120 day policy. Retention Policies will run nightly as a part of the normal mailbox maintenance process. Messages will be kept as follows:

How long are items kept in my Mimosa Archive?

All items except Contacts will be kept for 5 years from the time the item was created (sent or received ) in your mailbox. Contacts will be kept for 30 years.

Will the archive count toward my mailbox size?

No, the Mimosa Archive does not count towards the user’s Exchange mailbox size limit.

Do not drag messages into the Mimosa Archive folder itself as that is not the intended purpose of the folder and it will still count toward the mailbox size on the Exchange e-mail server.

How do I see a message that is over 120 days old?

Click on the “Mimosa Archive” folder in your Outlook Folder List to view the messages.

Can I create folders in my mailbox?

Yes! Now, we encourage you to create folders directly under your mailbox for organizational purposes. The folder structure you create will be copied into your archive as well.

What about my Outlook Personal Folders?

The archive system eliminates the need for Personal Folders (.pst files). Since the bulk of e-mail will be housed on the Mimosa NearPoint archive servers, rather than the e-mail servers, Exchange mailbox performance issues and storage limit issues will decrease. While you will still be able to view and use Personal Folders they are no longer the District recommendation. The Outlook Personal Folders document may be helpful.

What do I do with Deleted/Sent Items? Do I still need to empty them periodically?

Possibly. If you receive a message from the Exchange e-mail server stating that your mailbox is getting full.

What if I change my name? Will that affect my archive?

No, since you are still using the same mailbox, your archive will not be affected.

What do I do if I need to keep an e-mail over 5 years?

Save the message to your hard drive or other storage medium such as a Flash Drive or CD. You are responsible for saving, backing-up, and retrieving messages you save. The Saving E-mail On Your Hard Drive document may be helpful.

What do I do when Outlook asks me if I want to AutoArchive e-mail?

Select "No". AutoArchive is no longer needed. You may turn off the AutoArchive feature in Outlook. The How to Turn AutoArchive Off document found on the E-mail Archive web page may be helpful.

If I move an e-mail that is older than 120 days from personal folders/hard drive to my Inbox, where will it go? Will it get moved to the archive?

The e-mail will be deleted from the Inbox (e-mail servers) that night but it will also be archived. It will remain in the archive 5 years from the Sent/Received Date.

If I move an e-mail that is older than 5 years from personal folders/hard drive to my Inbox, where will it go? Will it get moved to the archive?

The e-mail will be deleted from the Inbox (e-mail servers) that night but it will also be archived. It will remain in the archive 5 years from the Sent/Received Date. If the message was sent or received over 5 years ago, then the message will be deleted from the archive. If you still need this message, save a copy to your hard drive.

How often does the archive “capture” my mailbox?

Every four hours. Data, in the form of Log Files, is constantly gathered on the Exchange e-mail servers. This data is then uploaded to the archive servers every four hours.  You will be able to see your data in your Mimosa Archive folder the next day to three days. Individual archive folders are refreshed every night but we have so many accounts that it can take 3 days to process all of them. 

Will this archive everything that comes into the Inbox, even SPAM and deleted and sent items?

Yes. Anything that is sent, received or deleted will be archived.

Will I be able to delete e-mails as I have in the past and will I then be able to delete from the “deleted” file?

Yes and no. You can still do “mailbox clean up” but you shouldn’t really need to as mailboxes will automatically be cleaned via the Exchange e-mail retention policy. (However, data cannot be deleted from the archive.)