Use Outlook 2003 as appointment diary? ... keep > 5 years of appointments?

[Blondie]

We are using Outlook 2003 (Office 2003 Pro) with SBS2003 server.

Several of our users need to keep about 7 years of appointment history,
until about 2 years ago they did this with Hard Copy paper appointment
diaries.

They replaced their paper diaries with Outlook 2003 almost 2 years ago and
were recently shocked to find they had 'lost' most of their appointments
older than 6 months. Some, but not all of the missing appointments were
found in archive.pst files ... this situation is quite unsatisfactory for
the users. What they need is a way to prevent Outlook from deleting or
archive their appointments completely.

Is there a way to allow Outlook to archive (some) email folders, but NOT the
Calendar? Or is there a different program product they should be using,
Outlook seems to be causing them a lot of frustration because of the way it
keeps 'deleteing' the Calendar information they want to keep.

Blondie
email replies won't work, please reply to this newsgroup

 

[Brian Tillman]

Several of our users need to keep about 7 years of appointment
history, until about 2 years ago they did this with Hard Copy paper
appointment diaries.

They replaced their paper diaries with Outlook 2003 almost 2 years
ago and were recently shocked to find they had 'lost' most of their
appointments older than 6 months. Some, but not all of the missing
appointments were found in archive.pst files ... this situation is
quite unsatisfactory for the users. What they need is a way to
prevent Outlook from deleting or archive their appointments
completely.

Outlook should not delete past items on its own. Either they deleted the
past items or they have autoarchive set to delete them or move them. Items
are retained forever otherwise.
(Note, however, that the dates will not be bolded in the Date Navigator for
events older than aout one year.)

Is there a way to allow Outlook to archive (some) email folders, but
NOT the Calendar?

Certainly. RIght-click the calendar folder and choose Properties. Select
the AutoArchive tab. Click the "Do not archive items in this folder" radio
button. Click OK.

 

[Blondie]

Thanks Brian!

I did request the users un-check the auto-archive for their calendars.

I am hoping to find a more 'fool proof' solution, and will keep looking.

I would like to be able to use the SBS2003 server to prevent users from
losing their calendar data no matter what they do on their own PCs.

I think I'll start reading up on Group Policy management ... do you have any
other good suggestions?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I think I'll start reading up on Group Policy management ... do you
have any other good suggestions?

Frankly, your issue seems more behavioral than technological. You can't
stop people from deleting things in their calendar with technology. If they
don't do it with archiving, they'll do it some other way and they'll still
complain when they do it. Education is your best bet.