Outlook 2011 for Mac has no native archive function built in. At my office we use two different methods.
Method 1: Purchase OEAO and
follow it's instructions. This is basically an app that can automatically launch at or after a set time each day then automatically move email older than (or whatever rule) X amount of days from your mailbox to local "On my Computer" folders in Outlook.
This is very handy if you have a hard time remembering to move older emails or, if you're like the majority of our users, have dozens (or more) of folders in your mailbox.
Method 2: This is the free method but it lacks the automatic archiving of OEAO. The gist of it is that you're exporting your entire mailbox (inbox, sent, etc) and reimporting
it to create a perfect archive that you can manually add to over time.
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Choose File > Export
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Choose "Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm)"
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Select the item types (we typically just select Mail) and continue
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You'll be asked if you want to delete everything after exporting. We choose no but you might choose yes, this is a personal preference.
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Specify the location and name of the exported file and click Save. Outlook will often freeze while doing this, however even though it's unresponsive it IS actually working. Be patient during this step.
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Once the export process is complete, click on File > Import.
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Choose Outlook Data File (.pst or .olm).
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Select Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm).
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Find the file that you created in step 5 and click Import. Again, this step will seem unresponsive until it completes.
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Click Done once Outlook finishes importing.
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Expand the "On my Computer" section in the left of Outlook and verify that your mail folders are there.
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Once you're sure that the email has been copied over to the "On my Computer" section you can now safely remove however many old emails as you desire.
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Going forward, you can drag/drop emails from your main mailboxes to the corresponding mailboxes in "On my Computer" to copy them to your local archive. Be sure to go back and then delete them from your main mailbox to free up space in your account.
If the On My Computer directory does not show up on the left panel, click Outlook on the menu, select Preferences, select General under Personal Settings, and uncheck the box for Hide On My Computer folders.
As always, please leave feedback for Microsoft about features such
as this that you wish to see in future versions of Outlook for Mac.
