How to maintain the mail file archive in Lotus Notes

How to maintain the mail file archive in Lotus Notes

Document number: 16202

It is imperative that a user maintains their mail file archive in Lotus Notes just as they maintain the actual mail file. If an archive grows too large, it can become corrupt and therefore not accessible or other issues may occur as well. The following lists some ways to maintain the archive so that it is kept to a manageable size:

Only archive the messages that must be saved:
Instead of archiving all of the messages in the Mail > 180 Days view prior to the next mail retention date, select only the messages that must be saved. Messages that are not necessary but that are archived can take up a big amount of space.
Remove attachments from messages that have been archived:
If the attachment has not already been removed from the message prior to archiving it, remove the attachment from the message in the archive. For additional information, see Eureka! document 13023 — How to delete an attachment yet retain the message in Lotus Notes.
Delete messages no longer needed in the archive:
Since the archive is a mail database, documents should be deleted in the same manner that they are from the actual mail file. Once a document is deleted, it will no longer appear in any of the folders that it was filed in. It is recommended to delete documents from the All Documents view after sorting by size so that the largest messages appear at the top. As the larger messages are removed or attachments deleted, it will help bring the archive to a manageable size.

After messages have been edited to remove attachments or have been deleted from the archive, the archive should be compacted to recover valuable space that it is taking up on the computer's hard drive.

Compacting the mail file archive

Note: The archive database cannot exceed 1 gigabyte (GB). If the archive nears or exceeds 1 GB, it may become corrupt and unsalvageable. Because the archive is a database located on the computer's hard drive, the bigger the archive gets, the more space it will be taking up on the hard drive. If the archive nears the 1 GB size, but has not exceed it, contact Technical Support Operations for assistance.

The mail file archive will not automatically be compacted because it is a local database (on the computer hard drive and not a server). The user must manually compact the archive to recover valuable space on the hard drive.

To compact the mail file archive:

Open the mail file archive.
Select File from the menu bar.
Select Database from the drop down list and select Properties... from the next drop down list.
Click the " i" tab.
Click the Compact button and close the Database properties window.

The compact task will now begin. When it has completed, a message will appear on the status bar that says "Finished compacting [archive database name]".

Depending on how much space is being recovered, the local compacting may take quite some time. Because it is an intensive process, system resources will be used during the compact process and may slow down other applications the user is working on. It is recommended to exit all applications and let the compact task run on its own so that it will process quicker.

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