Identify the domains, users and message directions to be covered. Decide who may search, export or administer the archive. Agree retention and deletion requirements with the person responsible for your organisation's records. Purchasing an archive does not automatically satisfy every contractual or legal obligation.

1. Open the archive service included in your order and confirm the covered domain, subscription and available retention settings.
2. Configure the required message flow through the supported filtering or journaling arrangement. Check both incoming and outgoing coverage; one can be active without the other.
3. Create roles for ordinary users and authorised reviewers. Give access only to the information each person is permitted to see.
4. Send a small set of test messages, including an incoming message, an outgoing reply and an attachment. Locate them in the archive after its normal processing delay.
5. Test a permitted search using sender, recipient, date range and subject. Check timezone interpretation and whether searches include every relevant mailbox.
6. Export a test result through the supported process and confirm it opens correctly. Store exports securely because they can contain confidential business or customer information.

Review archive status after a mail-provider migration, domain change or new outbound relay. A correct subscription can still have a broken ingestion route. Monitor capacity and retention settings so expected records are not silently excluded or removed.

Before deleting a user or domain, confirm what will happen to existing archive data and search permissions. An archive search should have a clear business purpose and an authorised operator. Keep a record of sensitive exports and remove unnecessary temporary copies after use.

Check the exact domain, time range, direction and message status in the mail logs. Determine whether it passed through the configured archive route. A message created before archiving began may require a separate import, if supported. Do not assume the archive can recover messages it never received.

• Setting up incoming email filtering without interrupting mail
• Configuring outgoing filtering and investigating blocked messages
• Moving business email without losing track of messages
• Creating a backup plan you can actually restore

• SpamExperts email services