Gsuite and Outlook Archiving
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I had a user who is using Gsuite for email and Outlook. They used the Google Sync for Outlook to set up the profile and everything was working fine. They used the Archive function in Outlook to archive all emails prior to a specific date. At this point, Outlook removed those files from Gsuite and imported them to a pst archive in Outlook. The user then decided they didn't want this and selected all the folders/messages in the archive and dragged them back to the Inbox in Outlook. The result of this is a total mess. There are a bunch of empty folders in the trash that matches the folder structure, however no messages.
Has anyone run into this particular scenario? I am more looking for anyone who knows the general overview of what happens when messages/folders from an archive get dragged into an inbox in Outlook where the same folder structure already exists. Any insight is greatly appreciated while I try to sort this out.
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I have seen some weirdness with IMAP email and Outlook when the amount of email is very large. The synchronization up to the host can leave the client significantly out of sorts until everything gets balanced especially if you're on an asynchronous internet connection.
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I've used in the past a specific tool from google to upload a pst on gmail. It works great. I've just to find it out again...
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I have around 30 users using Outlook with G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook. Outlook automatic archiving feature is turned off by default when you create the sync user profile. On top of that, I tell all of my users to not to run manual archive from Outlook as G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook doesn't support dragging and dropping the archived emails back to Outlook if they change their mind.
If they need the archived mail back again then they will have to import it from Gmail web interface and it is not a straight forward process as Gmail doesn't support PST format. Have a look at the https://tools.google.com/dlpage/outlookmigration page for more details.
Having said that, this is not going to solve the current mess in that user's mailbox. Depending on the type of the issue, you may want to look for a duplicator finder or something similar to clean it first.
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So I got the "opportunity" today to play some more with IMAP and PST files. Basically they don't play nicely. In addition Outlook (at least 2016) applies a display filter that hides any emails that have been removed from the IMAP server. This means that those folders that look empty probably aren't. You need to remove the filter on the folders from the folder view settings to be able to see them. Not sure why this is the default, but it does.
