Save Your Old Emails

If you are Faculty or Staff at Canisius College, your campus email account ("username@canisius.edu") is supplied and managed through a program called Microsoft Exchange. Via computers, Employees access their email via Microsoft Outlook Web, or Desktop Outlook (for PC or Mac.) A few faculty use the Mac Mail client on their Macbook computers. Many employees also have their Canisius email accounts accessible through mobile apps on smart phones or tablets.

By default, messages other people send to you are collected in your Inbox, while messages you send to others are filed in a Sent Items folder.

Exchange automatically deletes old emails according to the following rules:

Emails located in the "Inbox" and "Sent Items" folders are deleted after 180 days.
Emails located in the "Deleted Mail" folder are deleted after 30 days.
Subfolders, and emails within those subfolders, created inside the Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Mail folders are deleted after 180 days (Inbox, Sent Items) or 30 days (Deleted Mail).

In each email, Exchange includes an expiration date, telling you when that email will be deleted if left in the Inbox, Sent Items, or Deleted Folder.

Messages stored in folders that are located outside of the Inbox and Sent Items folder are not deleted. So to save old emails, periodically move them into folders you create outside of your Inbox and Sent Items folders.*

Are you a filer or a piler?

A filer is a person who typically creates folders for specific groups of messages. Examples might be for specific courses ("HIS108A FA22") or projects ("Library Phase II") or from specific people or organizations ("Snack Food Subcommittee"). Other filers parse messages by dates, such as weeks, months, and years. Filers often remember to save older messages they've received, but neglect to similarly save older messages they have sent. If a user wishes to save her or his sent messages, they must transfer those messages to another folder as well.

If you’re a filer, be sure that the received messages in your Inbox, and the sent messages in your Sent Items folder are moved to these other folders before they reach 180 days old. Messages in the folders you create outside the Inbox or Sent Items folder will not be deleted by Exchange.

Pilers are people who leave all of their received messages in the Inbox and their sent messages in the Sent Items folder. Pilers need to create at least one folder outside their Inbox and Sent Items folders, in which to store their old messages.

It is important to note that for saving old messages, you do not want to create folders within the Inbox or Sent Items folders. Subfolders or "child folders" within the Inbox or Sent Items folders will be deleted after 180 days, along with any messages stored in them.

*Note: You may notice that Microsoft Outlook has an Archive function, but this tool is really for shrinking the file size(s) of your email data, and for various reasons, Canisius ITS does not recommend that you use this at all, or rely on it to save your old emails. Instead, follow the procedures below.

Below are instructions for creating folders, deleting unwanted messages, and moving messages you wish to save into other folders.

For Faculty and Staff who use Outlook 2010, the "Desktop" versions of Outlook for Windows PCs:

Create a New Folder

Toward the top of the lefthand column, right click on your Name or Canisius College e-mail address. (highlighted in blue).

From the pop up menu select New Folder. Exchange will create the new folder below the Deleted Items folder.
Give your folder a name, for example "2022 Messages" or "Department Meetings."
Click OK.

To save your messages, do not store them in folders within your inbox. Instead, create them as folders separate from your inbox.

Deleting unneeded messages

Select messages for deletion.
1. To select non-contiguous messages hold down the control key and click on the messages you want to delete.
2. Right click a selected message and select delete from the pop up menu.
3. To select contiguous messages, select the first message you want to delete than hold down the Shift key and select the last message for deletion. You’ll see several messages selected.
4. Right click one of the selected messages and choose delete from the pop up menu.

Tip: If you’re a filer, select only 15 or 20 messages at a time then delete them. Continue until your Inbox and sent mail folder contains only those messages you want to keep.

Move your messages

Select the messages you want to move to a specific folder following the instructions above for choosing contiguous or non-contiguous messages.
Move the cursor over one of the selected messages and hold down the left mouse button.
Drag the selected messages to the folder of your choice.

Tip: If you’re a “piler” and are putting all of your message into a single folder (i.e.2022 messages) place your cursor in the pane with all of your messages and hold down the control key and press the letter “a” to select ALL message. Place your cursor on one of the selected messages, hold down the left mouse button and drag the messages to your folder.

For Faculty and Staff who use Outlook Web Application (OWA). This means you get to your email through my.canisius.edu or outlook.canisius.edu

Open the Outlook Web Application the way you usually do.

Deleting unneeded messages

Click on those messages while holding down the control key. This will select that message.
Select 15 or 20 messages as described above.
Place your cursor over one of the selected messages and right click.
Choose Delete from the pop-up menu. This will delete all of the selected messages. Repeat until your Inbox in free of unneeded messages.
To delete contiguous messages, left click on the first message you want to delete, hold down the Shift key and select the last message you want to delete.
Place your cursor on any of the selected messages and right click.
A pop-up menu will appear and choose delete from the menu. Your messages will be deleted.

Create a new folder

In the upper left, right click on your account name, for example lastname, firstname.
In the pop-up menu select Create New Folder. You should see that Exchange creates that new folder just below the "Deleted Items" folder.
Name the folder; for example "2022 Messages" or "Department Meetings."

To save your messages, do not store them in folders within your inbox. Instead, create them as folders separate from your inbox.

Move your messages

Click on the first message in your Inbox.
Press and hold the control key and press the letter “a” thus selecting messages in your Inbox. You may have to repeat this procedure if you have a lot of message in the Inbox. There is a limitation as to how many messages can be deleted or moved using Outlook Web Application.
Place your cursor over any of the selected messages, hold down the left mouse button and drag these files over to the folder of your choice.
If you want to select non-contiguous messages hold done the control key while clicking on the messages you want.
Click on any of the selected and hold the left mouse button down and drag them to the folder of your choice.