Forum Discussion
Online Archive on Outlook app (iOS)
I don't think the Online archive is available in Outlook for iOS and Android. It's been requested in UseVoice on this https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/293349-outlook-for-ios/suggestions/16609312-exchange-online-archive-accessfor example to no avail.
The Online archive is available in the abandoned but I still assume supported https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/owa-for-iphone/id659503543?mt=8. This is a holdover from the Acompli acquisition and not going back to add this feature. I guess it isn't seen as being very important or there is some technical limitation that makes this difficult to implement.
I suppose if Microsoft ever retires the OWA app, they will add support but who knows. It would be great to get an official steer.
No ActiveSync-based client (including Outlook for iOS) supports access to an archive mailbox because the protocol has not been updated to accommodate this resource (same reason as for shared mailbox). The OWA mobile app is essentially a wrapper around the browser version running on a mobile client, so it has access to all resources. However, that client has not been in active development since the Acompli (Outlook for iOS and Android) acquisition in November 2014 and limps on in a state of limbo.
Thanks for your replies, I dont think there is really much sense in providing a offlince cache of the archive, but atleast the Outlook app client should allow for searching the archive.
To allow searching of the archive from an ActiveSync (really Exchange ActiveSync or EAS) device, the current architecture would have to be updated. Seeing that Microsoft has just refreshed the way that they support the Outlook for iOS and Android clients (https://www.petri.com/outlook-ios-android-dumping-aws-q3), this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
But anyway, the mobile devices are really for triage - to allow you to know what's happening in your active mailbox and to identify the most important messages for processing (using the Focused Inbox). They are not intended to replicate all of the functionality available in Outlook desktop... And an archive is designed to hold data that is not referenced very often (which is why it's called an archive). If you need mobile access to data, hold it in your primary mailbox and you'll be able to search using a mobile client.
