Accessing the Online Archive in Outlook for Android or iOS
I’m using the Outlook app on my mobile device but it doesn’t seem to support the Online Archive as I can’t find it anywhere.
I tried to work around it by using Outlook on the Web in my browser, but that doesn’t show the Online Archive either even though it does show it when I use Outlook on the Web on my Desktop.
How do I access the Online Archive when I’m working on my mobile?
Although being able to access the Online Archive in Outlook for Android or iOS is a much requested feature, it unfortunately still isn’t on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap.
However, with the retirement of EWS and access to the Online Archive coming to the Graph API, we are seeing some development in the correct area for Outlook on Android and iOS to support it in the future.
Until then, we have to make due with Outlook on the Web and applying a little URL trick to force it to show the full Desktop version as the mobile version doesn’t show the Online Archive either.
Outlook on the Web URL trick
Even though Outlook on the Web supports showing the Online Archive when accessing it from a Desktop, it will not show it when you access it from your mobile.
Making Outlook on the Web to still show the Online Archive in a mobile browser is a 2 step process.
Step 1
Force the mobile browser to load the Desktop site;
- Chrome
Tap on the dotted menu in the top right corner and choose; Desktop site - Edge
Tap on the “hamburger” menu in the bottom right corner and choose; View desktop site - Safari
Tap on the “aA” menu button in the address bar and choose; Request Desktop Website
Step 2
Once the Desktop version of Outlook on the Web has loaded, you most likely still won’t see the Online Archive. In that case, you’ll need to edit the URL by adding ?layout=tmouse to the end of it.
The full URL will now look like this;
https://outlook.office.com/mail/?layout=tmouse
Final thoughts
Obviously, this method isn’t exactly ideal either as you most likely need to zoom and scroll to be able to read anything. Holding your mobile in landscape mode could help a bit.
If you need to do this frequently, you may want to reconsider when you are moving items to your Online Archive or ask your Exchange administrator to adjust the retention policies for your mailbox or organization.
Hopefully, once Graph API support for the Online Archive has been added, support for the Online Archive will be added to Outlook for Android and Outlook for iOS soon after.
