title: Archive created at: Sun Oct 20 2024 09:58:44 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) updated at: Wed Jul 23 2025 20:24:18 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) --- # Archive # Overview > \[!WARNING] > Warning > The *Archive* interface does **not** appear in your cPanel interface unless your system administrator enables the following settings: > The *Enable Email Archiving* support setting in the *Mail* section of WHM’s [*Tweak Settings*](https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/server-configuration/tweak-settings/) interface (*WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings*). > The *Email Archiving* feature in WHM’s [*Feature Manager*](https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/packages/feature-manager/) interface (*WHM » Home » Packages » Feature Manager*) for your account’s feature list. This interface allows you to save incoming, outgoing, and mailing list messages for a specified amount of time. The system stores the messages in the mail directory in the user’s home directory. Each day, the system generates a new directory with the `archivetype.YYYY-MM-DD` format that contains all of the specified archive type’s messages. * When the system receives a message, it immediately archives the message. * This action occurs **before** the system applies any filters. * The system archives both spam **and** non-spam emails. * The system does **not** archive messages that you receive before you enable the Archive feature. You can view the messages in the cPanel interface or a mail client. > \[!NOTE] > Note > This feature uses the [Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time) time zone to name directories, select messages to store in each directory, and timestamp messages. You **cannot** change this setting. > The amount of disk space that the system uses to archive messages increases by the length of time that you store mail. Make **certain** that significant space exists on your disk drive before you enable the Archive feature for a domain on your cPanel account. # Default Archive Configuration To enable a default archiving configuration for all of your domains, perform the following steps: 1. Select the desired archive type. 2. Select the length of time for the system to retain messages in the archive. The interface will display a message that the *Archive* feature is enabled. 3. Click *Apply to All My Domains* to apply the default configuration to all of your domains. # Manage Archiving The *Manage Archiving* table lists the archiving settings for each of your domains. ## Modify a domain’s email archive To make changes to an existing email archive configuration, perform the following steps: 1. In the table, locate the domain for which you wish to enable the email archive. 2. Select the desired archive type. 3. Select the length of time for the system to retain messages in the archive. The interface will display a message that the *Archive* feature is enabled. ## IMAP Access You can view messages in multiple ways through an IMAP connection. #### Automatic Configuration Scripts To use a cPanel-provided automatic configuration script, perform the following steps: 1. Click the *IMAP Access* option next to the domain for which you wish to view messages. The *Archive Mail Client Configuration* interface will display. 2. Select either *IMAP over SSL/TLS (recommended)* or IMAP for your chosen mail client. 3. Follow the instructions to complete the setup. 4. Use the provided settings to manually set up a read-only configuration via IMAP. #### Manual Settings To manually configure your mail client, perform the following steps: 1. Click the *IMAP Access* option next to the domain whose messages you wish to view. 2. In the selected mail client, provide the following information, where `example.com` represents your domain name: * Mail Server Username: `[email protected]` * Your password is the same as your cPanel account password. * Incoming Mail Server: (SSL) `mail.example.com` * IMAP port: `993` * Incoming Mail Server: (non-SSL) `mail.example.com` * IMAP port: `143` 3. After you provide the information to your mail client, the daily directories appear in the folder list. ## Download Archives To download the archives to your local computer, perform the following steps: 1. Click the *Download Archives* option next to the domain for which you wish to view messages. 2. Select from the following options: * *All archives* * *Incoming* * *Mailing Lists* * *Outgoing* 3. The system downloads a `.zip` file that contains the archived messages to your local computer. ## Access Webmail Click the *Access Webmail* link to view archived messages through Webmail. > \[!NOTE] > Note > You may need to perform additional steps in some webmail clients. For more information, read our [How to Set Up Webmail Folders](https://docs.cpanel.net/knowledge-base/webmail/how-to-set-up-webmail-folders/) documentation. ## Manage Disk Usage You can delete messages from the archives to free up disk space. To delete messages from the archives, perform the following steps: 1. Click *Access Webmail* for the domain that you wish to manage. The *Webmail* interface will appear. 2. In the top-right corner of the interface, click your archive’s email address. The *User Preferences* menu will appear. 3. Click *Manage Disk Usage*. The *Manage Disk Usage* interface will appear. 4. Click *Manage* for the mailbox that you wish to manage. 5. In the *Messages to delete* menu, select the message filter that you wish to use: * *1 year or more.* * *30MB in size or more.* * *Previously viewed.* * *All messages.* * *Custom query.* — This option allows you to use [Dovecot query language](https://wiki2.dovecot.org/Tools/Doveadm/SearchQuery) to make your own filter. 6. Click *Delete Permanently*. A success message will appear.