text: why do old archive files not delete in ms oulook 2003? i have set some folders in outlook 2003 for emails to be deleted after 1 more or so, after 5 months files are still there - why? the emails/files have been archived, to archive something is to preserve it thus preventing it from accidentally being deleted.  it seems like your auto archiver is in effect and is saving the messages and files before they are automatically deleted. please check your auto archive settings. and if you don't want them in your archive, just select them and hit delete.