ArchiveItem operation

Article
03/29/2023

Find information about the ArchiveItem EWS operation.

The ArchiveItem operation moves an item into the mailbox user's archive mailbox.

This operation was introduced in Exchange Server 2013.

Using the ArchiveItem operation

The ArchiveItem operation takes two arguments in the request that identify the items to move to the archive mailbox and the destination folder for those items. An archive mailbox must be enabled in order for this operation to work. For information about how to enable an archive mailbox, see Manage In-Place Archives.

ArchiveItem operation SOAP headers

The ArchiveItem operation can use the SOAP headers that are listed in the following table.

Header name	Element	Description
Impersonation	ExchangeImpersonation	Identifies the user whom the client application is impersonating. This header is applicable to a request.
MailboxCulture	MailboxCulture	Identifies the culture, as defined in RFC 3066, Tags for the Identification of Languages, to be used to access the mailbox. This header is applicable to a request.
RequestVersion	RequestServerVersion	Identifies the schema version for the operation request. This header is applicable to a request.
ServerVersion	ServerVersionInfo	Identifies the version of the server that responded to the request. This header is applicable to a response.

ArchiveItem operation request example: Move an item to the archive inbox folder

The following example of an ArchiveItem operation request shows how to move an item to the archive Inbox folder.

Note

All item identifiers and change keys in this article have been shortened to preserve readability.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
               xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
               xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
               xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
               xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages">
   <soap:Header>
      <t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2013"/>
   </soap:Header>
   <soap:Body>
      <m:ArchiveItem>
         <m:ArchiveSourceFolderId>
            <t:DistinguishedFolderId Id="inbox"/>
         </m:ArchiveSourceFolderId>
         <m:ItemIds>
            <t:ItemId Id="AQMkG5BBwrQAAAxoAAAA=" ChangeKey="CQAAAHCtAAAAAAB7"/>
         </m:ItemIds>
      </m:ArchiveItem>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The request SOAP body contains the following elements:

Successful ArchiveItem operation response

The following example shows a successful response to an ArchiveItem operation request to move an item to an archive mailbox.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <s:Header>
      <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" 
                           MinorVersion="0" 
                           MajorBuildNumber="526" 
                           MinorBuildNumber="0" 
                           Version="Exchange2013" 
                           xmlns:h="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
                           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
   </s:Header>
   <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
      <m:ArchiveItemResponse xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
                             xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
         <m:ResponseMessages>
            <m:ArchiveItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
               <m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
               <m:Items/>
            </m:ArchiveItemResponseMessage>
         </m:ResponseMessages>
      </m:ArchiveItemResponse>
   </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

The response SOAP body contains the following elements:

ArchiveItem operation error response

The following example shows an error response to an ArchiveItem operation request. This is a response to a valid request to archive an item when an archive mailbox is not enabled for a user.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <s:Header>
      <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" 
                           MinorVersion="0" 
                           MajorBuildNumber="556" 
                           MinorBuildNumber="8" 
                           Version="Exchange2013" 
                           xmlns:h="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
                           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
                           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
   </s:Header>
   <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
           xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
      <m:ArchiveItemResponse xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
                             xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
         <m:ResponseMessages>
            <m:ArchiveItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Error">
               <m:MessageText>Archive mailbox is not enabled for this user.</m:MessageText>
               <m:ResponseCode>ErrorInvalidOperation</m:ResponseCode>
               <m:DescriptiveLinkKey>0</m:DescriptiveLinkKey>
               <m:Items/>
            </m:ArchiveItemResponseMessage>
         </m:ResponseMessages>
      </m:ArchiveItemResponse>
   </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

The error response SOAP body contains the following elements:

For additional error codes that are generic to EWS and specific to this operation, see ResponseCode.