Are Microsoft Exchange Personal Archives accessible over IMAP?

Question

I am using IMAP (from Thunderbird client) to access my mailbox on a Microsoft Exchange server.

The Personal Archives have been configured on the Exchange server. Unfortunately they do not seem to be accessible over the IMAP connection. I do not see the archive folders on the IMAP subscription folder list.

Is it possible to access the Microsoft Exchange Personal Archives over IMAP and how?

Answer 1

You may want to look at the DAVMail project, which expands on making Exchange's propertiary functions available over IMAP and similar open protocols to other types of clients.

According to this: http://sourceforge.net/p/davmail/support-requests/134/ ...the capability to access Archives on IMAP has been added sometime in 2011. I have not yet tested this personally though.

Answer 2

I don't have any direct experience, but I'm going to say "no you can't access the Personal Archives via IMAP and/or Thunderbird".

Evidence to support this theory...

• On the page you linked, there's a list of supported clients. It's Outlook 2007+ or nothing according to that list.
• Also on that page is this gem: "Personal archives are a premium feature, and require an Exchange Enterprise client access license (CAL). For details about how to license Exchange, see Exchange Server Licensing. For details about the versions of Microsoft Outlook required to access an archive mailbox, see License requirements for Personal Archive and retention policies."

That's a link to License requirements for Personal Archive and retention policies, which lays out even more restrictive client choices.

From what I glean from it, to be licensed you need the stand-alone Outlook versions, or the highest-end Office suite versions.

Retail

Supported

• Outlook 2013 stand-alone
• Outlook 2010 stand-alone
• Outlook 2010 included with Microsoft Office Professional Plus Subscription
• Outlook 20071 stand-alone
• Outlook 20071 included with Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007

Not supported

• Outlook 2013 included with Microsoft Office Standard 2013
• Outlook 2013 included with Microsoft Office Professional 2013
• Outlook 2013 included with Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013
• Outlook 2010 included with Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010
• Outlook 2010 included with Microsoft Office Professional 2010

Volume License

Supported

• Outlook 2013 stand-alone
• Outlook 2013 included with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013
• Outlook 2010 stand-alone
• Outlook 2010 included with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
• Outlook 20071 stand-alone
• Outlook 20071 included with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
• Outlook 20071 included with Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007

Not Supported

• Outlook 2013 included with Microsoft Office Standard 2013
• Outlook 2010 included with Microsoft Office Standard 2010
• Outlook 2007 included with Microsoft Office Standard 2007

So due to the strict licensing requirements, I'd say you're not going to just get at those archive mailboxes for nothing via IMAP; and in cases where you have an unsupported client, your option appears to be accessing them via Outlook Web Access.