Move Emails

A Move Emails rule saves messages from user mailboxes to cloud storage and then removes them from the mailbox. Use it to clear old mail out of mailboxes, reduce mailbox storage, or move mail into a records system kept in cloud storage. This page covers each option in the Move Emails wizard, and the choices you can't change after saving.

The general wizard layout is in Create a Rule. To save mail and leave it in place, use Copy Emails instead.

What it does

For each matching message in the selected mailboxes, mxHERO:

1. Saves the selected content to storage: the message as .eml or .msg, its attachments, a PDF of the body, or any combination.
2. Then either moves the message to the mailbox's Trash (Deleted Items) folder, or deletes it permanently. You choose which when you create the rule.

The message is removed only after its content is saved successfully.

Typical uses:

• Move mail older than a set age out of every mailbox, keeping it in storage. Use the time range Up to a date in time (continuously updating) to keep doing it as mail ages.
• Clear a departing employee's or a shared mailbox into a storage folder.
• Free up mailbox quota without losing the mail.

Supported targets

IMAP mailboxes can't be used with Move Emails. See Rule Targets.

Before you begin

• You need an Owner or Administrator role in the Admin Dashboard.
• Connect mailbox access for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, or add individual mailbox accounts. See Office 365 Directory and Mailbox Access or Google Workspace Directory and Mailbox Access.
• Connect the storage in Settings › Integrations. Use an organization-level account where you can. See Storage Overview.
• Agree with the mailbox owners, and your records or legal team, on which mail will be moved and whether it may be deleted permanently.
• Run a Copy Emails rule with the same settings on one test mailbox first, and check the files in storage. A Move rule can't be undone by mxHERO.

Step 1: Action

1. Open Rules › Create a Rule, select Move Emails, and click Start Rule Creation.

2. Under Select what to save:, choose one or more:

   • Email (selected by default): the whole message. Choose .EML (default) or .MSG under File type for saved email:.
   • Attachments: each attachment as a separate file.
   • Email's Body in PDF: the message body as a PDF.

   

   Important: The message is removed from the mailbox whatever you save. Keep Email selected unless you are sure you don't need the full message.

3. Open Advanced Options and choose Select what happens with emails once moved::

   Option	What happens to the original	Default
   Move emails to Trash folder	Moved to Trash (Gmail) or Deleted Items (Microsoft 365). The mailbox's normal retention then empties it. Users can restore messages until then.	Yes
   Delete emails after saving	Deleted permanently. A warning is shown while this is selected.	No

   

   Warning: You can't change this choice after the rule is saved. To switch, copy the rule, change the copy, and stop the original.

4. Click Confirm.

Attachment filters (optional)

Click Add Filters under the Action step to open the Attachments Filter panel. It limits which attachments are saved, for example only PDFs. It doesn't decide which messages are moved: use Target Filters for that. See Filters and Exclusions.

Step 2: Target

Rule Scope: shows only User Mailboxes.

1. In Target all emails from this provider:, choose Office 365™ for organizations, Google™ Apps, or an individual mailbox account. If the Google Workspace app isn't installed yet, choosing Google™ Apps opens the Google Workspace Marketplace listing so you can install it.

2. Choose the accounts: all accounts in the organization, a domain, specific accounts, a group or a tag.

3. Choose Select Time Range:. The default is From the beginning (all your inbox), which moves every matching message once. For mailbox cleanup, Up to a date in time (continuously updating) moves mail once it is older than a set age, for example 3 months. See Rule Targets for all seven options.

4. Open Advanced Options:

   Option	Default	What it does
   Notify me when done	Off	Email the Notification Address: when a run finishes without errors
   Notify me on error	On	Email the Notification Address: when a run finishes with errors
   Notification Address:	Your address	Where those emails go
   Mark email as processed	Off	Add a category (Microsoft 365) or label (Gmail), mxHERO by default, to the moved message in the trash. Only with Move emails to Trash folder.

   

   Important: Don't combine Mark email as processed with Delete emails after saving. There is no message left to mark, and the rule is rejected.

5. Set Target Filters to choose exactly which messages move. The panel opens automatically for User Mailboxes:

   • Sender/Recipient (From/To) Inclusions and Exclusions (email addresses and domains).
   • Include by folder path and Exclude by folder path, for example only Inbox/Clients.
   • Use filter policy.

   See Filters and Exclusions.

6. Click Confirm.

Step 3: Cloud Storage

1. In Cloud Storage Account:, choose the storage account.
2. Choose Select which storage accounts are used:: Automatically select the storage account based on the inbox account (default; each mailbox's mail goes to that user's own storage account), Use a specific storage account, or Balance uploads using a list of accounts.
3. If you choose an individual storage account, an Important Note warns that its sign-in can expire without notice. With a Move rule, that stops the rule. Prefer an organization account.
4. Optionally open Advanced Options: Select a security option: (keep Accessible to the folder collaborators (no shared link) unless you need links) and Select a template option: (Box and Egnyte metadata).
5. Click Confirm.

Step 4: Storage Filepath

1. Keep Root or choose Pick from storage under Filepath where to copy your files:.

2. Edit the Subfolder path. The default is:

   Move Emails/{Folder Name}/{From Address}/{Subject Normalized}/{Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd}

   {Folder Name} is the mailbox folder the message was in, so the folder structure in storage follows the mailbox. To keep each user's mail apart when all mail goes to one storage account, add the mailbox address, {Inbox Address}. See Variables Reference.

3. Or turn on Use a copy policy instead. See Copy Policies.

4. Optionally open Advanced Options: Email Name Formatting (default {Sent or Receive Date / yyyyMMdd_hhmm}-{Subject Normalized}), Use a subfolder for saved emails, Collaborate Subfolder and Do not overwrite existing files. These work as in Copy Emails.

5. Click Confirm.

Path syntax is in Storage File Paths.

More actions (optional)

Click Add Action to open More actions.... For Move Emails it has:

• When the email was successfully processed: Do nothing (default), Send a copy, or Forward, to an address or an address from a variable.
• Process email using mxHERO AI: Mail2Cloud Advanced. See Store in AI.

There is no "could not be processed" option: a message that fails to save stays in the mailbox.

Then name and save the rule. See Create a Rule.

What users see

• Matching messages disappear from their folders. With Move emails to Trash folder, they appear in Trash or Deleted Items, with the mxHERO category or label if Mark email as processed is on, until the mailbox empties that folder.
• The messages are in the storage folder you set. With automatic storage selection, each user finds their own mail in their own storage account.
• Users get no notification from mxHERO. Tell them before the rule starts. See Planning End User Communications.

Notifications this action sends

Limits

• Mailboxes only; no Email Flow, Forwarding Address or IMAP.
• Drafts, junk/spam, trash and deleted items folders are always skipped.
• By default, 25 messages per mailbox per batch, and up to 6 mailboxes at a time per rule. Large mailboxes take time; check progress on the Rules List.
• Continuously updating rules check for new mail about every 5 minutes.
• After saving, you can't change the provider, accounts, time range, target filters, or the trash/delete choice.
• On Microsoft 365, mailboxes that are inactive, soft-deleted or on-premises can't be processed (inactive_inbox_account).

If something fails

A message is never removed unless its content was saved first.

Verify

1. On Rules › Rules List, expand the rule. The task status shows RUNNING and then FINISHED (one-time rules).
2. Open the account details to see, for each mailbox, the messages processed, uploaded and moved, and any errors.
3. Check a sample of messages in the storage folder.
4. Check that the same messages are in Trash or Deleted Items (trash option), or gone (delete option).

Troubleshooting

Related pages

• Copy Emails
• Protect Attachments
• Create a Rule
• Rule Targets
• Filters and Exclusions
• Storage File Paths
• Rules List