When an employee leaves—or a season ends—deleting the mailbox can destroy records you still need, while leaving the seat active wastes budget and extends access risk. This guide shows how to archive an employee mailbox, keep required data, stop unnecessary seat costs, and prepare for a later restore.
Archive when access must stop but history or rehire may still matter.
The worker is off roster but may return next peak. You need history without an active login.
Business continuity or policy requires keeping mail for a defined period after departure.
You want to stop paying for an inactive seat without permanently removing the mailbox.
Use this decision tree before changing an account. Vendor recovery behavior differs—cite primary docs.
Archive vs disable vs delete vs retain decision tree
SmtpMan product states · Verified: 2026-07-22 · Vendor docs cited below
Need mail later or rehire likely?
→ Archive (or retain + revoke access)
Login stops; history kept for restore. SmtpMan archived seats bill at $0.00.
No rehire path and retention says remove?
→ Delete after export/hold clearance
Only when policy and legal hold review allow permanent removal.
Under investigation or hold?
→ Retain / hold first
Do not delete. Disable login while hold is active; archive after hold clears if rehire is possible.
Need a short pause only?
→ Disable (transitional)
Login blocked pending review—decide archive or delete next; do not leave disabled indefinitely.
Primary source references
Archive is an access decision. Retention periods and legal holds belong in policy—not in this how-to.
Before you archive or delete, confirm: who owns the mailbox after departure, how long business continuity needs the mail, and whether any legal hold applies. Do not invent jurisdiction-specific retention periods on this page.
Policy template and framing: Employee offboarding email retention policy.
Clear ownership and exports before you revoke login.
Name a post-departure owner
Manager or HR contact who can approve restore requests and answer “who needs this mail?”
Export if policy requires
If legal or business continuity needs a separate copy, export before archive—not after delete.
Review aliases and forwarding
Remove stale forwards and document aliases so archive does not leave a silent redirect path.
Move the account to archived: revoke login and send/receive, keep mailbox history for reactivation, and stop billing the seat as active. Under SmtpMan pricing, archived seats are $0.00 while archived (Verified: 2026-07-22).
Estimate idle-seat spend with the Unused SaaS license cost calculator for seasonal teams.
jordan@team.example.com
Season ended · Owner: Store 12
sam@team.example.com
Offboarded · Hold cleared
Archive reduces end-user risk; it does not remove the need for admin access controls.
Only designated admins should open or export archived mailboxes. Log who accessed what and when.
Confirm forwards and delegates are removed or documented so archived mail does not quietly reach another inbox.
Restore is a controlled reactivation—not an automatic unlock.
Summary: verify the person and employment relationship, review ownership/aliases/groups, restore to active, reset credentials, then notify managers. Do not restore historical group membership blindly.
Full rehire flow: Reactivate a former employee email account securely. For the broader state model, see Seasonal employee email lifecycle.
Avoid these patterns when building an archive practice.
Deletes history you may need for rehire or disputes. Archive first when rehire is possible.
Keeps access risk and billing alive. Archive stops both without destroying data.
Nobody can approve restore requests. Name a post-departure owner before you archive.
Archive is not a substitute for legal holds. Clear holds before delete; link retention policy separately.
Run this list once per departing or off-season account.
Archive basics
No. Archive is an account state: access stops while history remains available for reactivation under product policy. A backup or export is a separate copy for retention or legal holds.
In SmtpMan, archived seats are billed at $0.00 while archived (Verified: 2026-07-22). Other vendors differ—confirm in your license terms before assuming cost savings.
Yes when the product supports reactivation. Follow a secure rehire workflow: verify identity, review ownership, then restore access. See the reactivation guide for the full checklist.
Next step
Review the seasonal email lifecycle—or continue to secure reactivation.