2 Steps to Automatically Delete Expired Emails at a Specified Date

Outlook not only allows us to flag emails for follow up, but also to mark emails as expired. This article will look at how to demand Outlook to delete expired emails automatically.

So as to keep mailbox clean, I am accustomed to deleting some old and useless emails manually. But I always spend too much time identifying which emails are useless. To avoid this cumbersome process, I learn a method to mark the useless emails as expired. Then the expired ones will be shown in grey strikethrough font. I can distinguish them with ease. Furthermore, I set Outlook to delete expired emails during Auto-Archive.

Step 1: Manually Mark Emails as Expired

1. For a start, select one message from the email list.
2. Then double click the message to open it in the Message window.
3. Next head to “File” menu and click “Properties” button under “Info” tab.
4. Later a new window will pop up, in which you need mark the check box next to the option “Expire after”. And then you can specify an expiration date.
5. Finally click “Close” to exit “Properties” window and press X icon to back to Outlook Home page.

Note: In this step, in order to quickly access “Properties” of the message, you can add “Message Options” to QAT.

1. Click the down arrow in QAT and choose “More Commands”.
2. Select “Commands Not in the Ribbon” in “Choose Commands from” field. Then locate and select “Message Options” in the right box and click “Add” button to add it to QAT.
3. Eventually click “OK”. You can see the option icon in QAT. Click it, and you will open “Properties” directly.

Step 2: Automatically Delete Expired Emails by Auto-Archive

After setting an expiration date successfully, you need to configure Outlook to delete expired emails at a set date, which can be achieved by Auto-Archive.

1. To start with, go to “File” menu and select “Options”.
2. Then in the new window of “Outlook Options”, switch to “Advanced” tab.
3. Next locate “Auto-Archive” label and click “Auto-Archive Settings” button.
4. Later a new dialog will arise, in which you should set the archived date as per your needs. More importantly, remember to select the “Delete expired items” option. If you would like Outlook not to delete other items but expired items, you need to unselect the “Archive or delete old items” option.
5. Finally click several “OK” to back to Outlook.

Make Full Use of Outlook Inbox Repair Tool

Owing to Outlook’ vulnerability, Microsoft offers an inbox repair tool to users. But it is always hidden deeply. If you are just a novice in Outlook, you may be strange about it. However, you can access it with ease. Just enter “Scanpst” in search field in Windows Explorer. It will show up at once. This tool can assist you to recover some Outlook data to a certain extent. But sometimes, it is not powerful enough to repair severely corrupt file. Then it is high time to utilize an external repair tool, such as DataNumen Outlook Repair. It has a much higher Outlook recovery rate.

Author Introduction:

Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including sql recovery and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com