Forum Discussion

IT_Bee's avatar
IT_Bee
Copper Contributor
Mar 18, 2026
Solved

Disabling Tenant-Wide Auto-Archiving in Exchange Online

  Hello,   I need to disable auto-archiving for Exchange Online mailboxes at the tenant level. Before I pull the trigger, I would like to make sure I’m looking at the right knobs and understanding...
admin
exchange online
  • AnnTaeYoun's avatar
    AnnTaeYoun
    Mar 19, 2026

    HI IT_Bee​ 

    Yes, archiving can be stopped by editing or removing the retention policy or retention tags that move items to the archive mailbox.

    However, please note that this does not disable the Archive Mailbox itself. It only stops future items from being moved to the archive based on the applied retention settings.

    If the goal is to stop archiving going forward, reviewing and updating the retention policy assigned to the affected mailbox(es) would be the appropriate approach.

    Also, if you plan to disable an Archive Mailbox, we recommend backing up or exporting any data stored in the archive beforehand, since access to that data may no longer be available afterward.

    Best regards,
    AnnTaeYoun

AnnTaeYoun's avatar
AnnTaeYoun
MVP
Mar 19, 2026

Hello!

IT_Bee​

There is no confirmed tenant-level global control to turn Archive Mailboxes on or off in Exchange Online. Therefore, Archive Mailboxes should be managed on a per-mailbox basis. In addition, before turning off an Archive Mailbox, any data stored in the archive should be backed up or exported in advance, as access to that data may no longer be available afterward.