Enable Auto-Expanding Archiving Tenant-Wide in Microsoft 365

Enable Auto-Expanding Archiving Tenant-Wide in Microsoft 365

This step by step guide shows how to enable auto-expanding archiving tenant-wide using Exchange Online PowerShell. It includes the exact connect command and required module. This process cannot be completed in the web portals or Cloud Shell.

Why This Cannot Be Done In Cloud Shell Or Admin Portals

• The Microsoft 365 Admin Center and Exchange Admin Center do not offer a GUI setting to enable auto-expanding archiving.

• The in-browser Cloud Shell in EAC is a restricted environment and does not support the full modern Connect-ExchangeOnline workflow or the organization-level switch needed to enable auto-expansion.

• Solution: install and use the ExchangeOnlineManagement PowerShell module locally.

Prerequisites

• Role: Global Admin or Exchange Admin.

• Licensing that supports archiving, for example: Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, Exchange Online Plan 2, or Exchange Online Archiving add-on.

• PowerShell available on your computer.

• The ExchangeOnlineManagement module installed locally.

Step 1 - Install The Exchange Online PowerShell Module

Run the following in PowerShell to install the required module for your user account:

Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser

Optional explicit import if needed:

Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

Step 2 - Connect To Exchange Online With An Admin Account

Use your admin UPN when connecting. This authenticates your PowerShell session as an administrator.

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName your.admin@your-domain.com

• Replace your.admin@your-domain.com with your actual admin account.

• Complete the sign in and MFA prompts.

• Note: this UPN is your admin account, not the end user mailbox.

Step 3 - Check Tenant-Wide Auto-Expanding Setting

Get-OrganizationConfig | Select-Object AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled

• If the result is False, auto-expanding archiving is not enabled tenant-wide.

Step 4 - Enable Auto-Expanding Archiving Tenant-Wide

Set-OrganizationConfig -AutoExpandingArchive

• This enables auto-expanding archiving for the entire organization.

• No additional parameters are required.

Step 5 - Verify The Change

Get-OrganizationConfig | Select-Object AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled

• You should now see True.

Step 6 - Disconnect Your Session

Disconnect-ExchangeOnline -Confirm:$false

Operational Notes

• Archive mailboxes begin at 100 GB. With auto-expansion enabled, Microsoft will allocate additional archive storage in increments as needed.

• Provisioning of additional storage is not instant. After an archive approaches quota, Microsoft may take time to add capacity.

• Retention and archive policies continue to work normally with auto-expansion enabled.

• There is no GUI indicator that auto-expanding is active. Verification is performed via PowerShell as shown above.

Quick Troubleshooting

• Command not recognized: run Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement first.

• Cannot connect: confirm you are using an admin UPN and that MFA is satisfied.

• Enabled but no growth: allow time for Microsoft to provision capacity after the archive reaches its threshold and confirm your archive and retention policies are configured as intended.

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