Is there a way to recover Archive email folder in Outlook after converting from Windows 10 to Windows 11?

Question

Is there a way to recover Archive email folder in Outlook after converting from Windows 10 to Windows 11?

Moore, Buddy 0

My company is upgrading everyone's PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11. When my PC was updated to Wondows 11 it did not carryover .pst files which contains archive emails inside my Outlook. I have had long chat conversations with our IT dept and they have told me there is no hope. He even remoted in to my PC and could not find any .pst files. He has told me that he could find no record of the .pst files being backed up. He also asked me if I could have possibly stored it in a non-authorized location. Since I am on Microsoft Exchange, could it be possible my archive folders are saved somewhere online?? Any help is appreciated as I have nearly 13 years of business critical emails saved in my archives.

Hien-L 2,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-01T04:39:39.6533333+00:00

Hi Moore, Buddy,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post back. If you think my reply is helpful to you, please remember to mark it as an answer. Warm thanks
Hien-L 2,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-05T02:48:23.1266667+00:00

Hi Moore, Buddy,

Is there any update on this thread? If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well. Thanks for your understanding.

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Your answer

Hien-L 2,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-01T04:39:39.6533333+00:00

Hi Moore, Buddy,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post back. If you think my reply is helpful to you, please remember to mark it as an answer. Warm thanks
Hien-L 2,905 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-05T02:48:23.1266667+00:00

Hi Moore, Buddy,

Is there any update on this thread? If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well. Thanks for your understanding.

Answer 1

Hi Moore, Buddy,

Welcome to our forum!

Have you manually deleted those emails or have administrators set retention policy?

If not, please log your account into Outlook for Web and search the emails to see if the business critical messages from thirteen years ago still exist. More: How to search in Outlook - Microsoft Support

If they still exist, you may try to export them in Classic Outlook Desktop Client to a .pst file as a new backup. More information: Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support

Hope it helps.

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Is there a way to recover Archive email folder in Outlook after converting from Windows 10 to Windows 11?

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