Extending Exchange Online Archiving: Individual vs Organization-Level Implementation

Are you struggling with mailbox storage limitations in your organization? Exchange Online's auto-expanding archiving might be the solution you need!

Let me break down the key differences between enabling archiving at the individual user level versus organization-wide:

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 ✅

➡️Targeted implementation for only high-volume users who need it

➡️Additional 10GB storage quota increase for primary archive (100GB → 110GB)

➡️Additional 10GB for Recoverable Items folder when mailbox is on hold/retention

➡️Perfect for organizations with varying archiving needs across departments

𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗪𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 🏢

➡️Simplified administration - enable once for all users

➡️Automatic enablement for new mailboxes created in the future

➡️Consistent archiving policy across your entire tenant

➡️No additional storage space is added immediately (unlike with individual user activation!)

𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 🔄

➡️Auto-expanding archiving is supported for cloud-based archive mailboxes even if the primary mailbox is on-premises

➡️Once enabled, you CANNOT off-board that archive mailbox back to on-premises Exchange

➡️Auto-expanding archiving is NOT supported for on-premises mailboxes in any version of Exchange Server. This means that if both your primary mailbox and archive mailbox are hosted on-premises (locally), you cannot use auto-expanding archiving. It only works for mailboxes that are at least partially in the cloud.

➡️Search is NOT supported for auto-expanded archives in hybrid deployments (primary mailbox on-premises)

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀 & 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ⚠️

➡️When an auto-expanding archive reaches the 1.5TB limit, no more data will be stored or moved there

➡️If main archive also reaches its quota, primary mailbox can fill up, potentially blocking email flow

➡️To mitigate risk, implement Microsoft 365 retention policies to delete content without business value

𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 🚫

➡️Users cannot delete folders from archive mailboxes with auto-expanded storage areas

➡️While users can delete individual items in auto-expanded areas, they cannot use Recover Deleted Items feature

𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗽! 💡

If you've already enabled auto-expanding archiving organization-wide but need the additional 10GB storage for a specific user, you can still run the Enable-Mailbox -AutoExpandingArchive command on that mailbox. You'll see an error saying auto-expanding archiving is already enabled, but the extra storage space will be added!

𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 ⚠️

➡️Once enabled, auto-expanding archiving CANNOT be turned off

➡️Prevents recovery of inactive mailboxes in the future

➡️Takes up to 30 days for additional storage provisioning

➡️Requires PowerShell commands to implement

➡️Archive mailbox must already be enabled before auto-expanding archiving

Has your organization implemented auto-expanding archiving? What approach did you take? Share your experiences below!

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