Create a retention policy for Exchange Online

Article
06/25/2024

Note

To proactively retain or delete mailbox content for data lifecycle management in Microsoft 365, we recommend that you use Microsoft 365 retention policies and retention labels from the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, instead of messaging records management that's described on this page. However, you should continue using messaging records management to move messages to archive mailboxes.

If you currently use messaging records management (MRM), this older feature will continue to work side-by-side with Microsoft 365 retention policies and retention labels. However, we recommend that going forward, you use Microsoft 365 retention policies and retention labels instead. They provide you with a single mechanism to centrally manage both retention and deletion of content across Microsoft 365.

In Exchange Online, you can use messaging records management (MRM) retention policies to manage email lifecycle. Retention policies are applied by creating retention tags, adding them to a retention policy, and applying the policy to mailbox users.

For additional management tasks related to retention policies, see Messaging Records Management Procedures.

What do you need to know before you begin?

Estimated time to complete this task: 30 minutes.
Procedures in this topic require specific permissions. See each procedure for its permissions information.
Configuration for the MRM retention policies and tags is in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
Mailboxes to which you apply these retention policies must reside in Microsoft 365.

Step 1: Create a retention tag

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Messaging records management" entry in the Feature permissions in Exchange Online topic.

Use the Purview compliance portal to create a retention tag

Sign in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal and navigate to Solutions > Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy) > MRM Retention tags, and then select + New tag.
On the Define how the tag will be applied page, select one of the following options, and then select Next:
- Automatically to entire mailbox (default): Select this option to create a default policy tag (DPT). You can use DPTs to create a default deletion policy and a default archive policy, which applies to all items in the mailbox.
  
  You can't use this configuration to create a DPT to delete voice mail items. For details about how to create a DPT to delete voice mail items, see the Exchange Online PowerShell example on this page.
- Automatically to default folder: Select this option to create a retention policy tag (RPT) for a default folder such as Inbox or Deleted Items, and then select the folder.
  
  You can create RPTs only with the Delete and allow recovery or Permanently delete retention actions.
- By users to items and folders (personal): Select this option to create personal tags. These tags allow Outlook and Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App. or OWA) users to apply archive or deletion settings to a message or folders that are different from the settings applied to the parent folder or the entire mailbox.
On the Define retention settings page title and options will vary depending on the type of tag you selected. Complete the following fields, and then select Next:
- Retention Period: Select one of the following options:
  - When the item reaches the following age (in days): Select this option and specify the number of days to retain items before they're moved or deleted. The retention age for all supported items except Calendar and Tasks is calculated from the date an item is received or created. Retention age for Calendar and Tasks items is calculated from the end date.
  - Never: Select this option to specify that items should never be deleted or moved to the archive.
- Retention Action: Select one of the following actions to be taken after the item reaches its retention period:
  - Delete and allow recovery: Select this action to delete items but allow users to recover them using the Recover Deleted Items option in Outlook or Outlook on the web. Items are retained until the deleted item retention period configured for the mailbox database or the mailbox user is reached.
  - Permanently delete: Select this option to permanently delete the item from the mailbox database.
    
    Important
    
    While mailboxes or items are subject to holds such as Microsoft 365 retention policies or retention labels, or litigation hold, they won't be permanently deleted and will continue to be returned in eDiscovery searches.
  - Move item to archive: This action is available only if you're creating a DPT or a personal tag. Select this action to move items to the user's archive mailbox.
On the Name your tag page, enter a name and optional description, and then select Next:
- Name: Enter a name for the retention tag. The tag name is for display purposes and doesn't have any impact on the folder or item a tag is applied to. Consider that the personal tags you provision for users are available in Outlook and Outlook on the web.
- Description: User this optional field to enter any administrative notes or comments. The field isn't displayed to users.
Review and submit to create the tag with your chosen configuration.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create a retention tag

Use the New-RetentionPolicyTag cmdlet to create a retention tag. Different options available in the cmdlet allow you to create different types of retention tags. Use the Type parameter to create a DPT (value of All), RPT (specify a default folder type, such as Inbox) or a personal tag (value of Personal).

The following example creates a DPT to delete all messages in the mailbox after 7 years (2,556 days):

New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Delete" -Type All -AgeLimitForRetention 2556 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery

The following example creates a DPT to move all messages to the In-Place Archive in 2 years (730 days):

New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Move" -Type All -AgeLimitForRetention 730 -RetentionAction MoveToArchive

The following example creates a DPT to delete voice mail messages after 20 days:

New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Voicemail" -Type All -MessageClass Voicemail -AgeLimitForRetention 20 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery

The following example creates an RPT to permanently delete messages in the Junk EMail folder after 30 days:

New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "RPT-Corp-JunkMail" -Type JunkEmail -AgeLimitForRetention 30 -RetentionAction PermanentlyDelete

The following example creates a personal tag to never delete a message:

New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "Never Delete" -Type Personal -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery -RetentionEnabled $false

Step 2: Create a retention policy

Use the Microsoft Purview compliance portal to create a retention policy

Sign in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal and navigate to Solutions > Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy) > MRM Retention policies, and then select New policy.
On the Configure your policy page, enter a name for the retention policy, and then select + Add tag to select the tags you want to add to this retention policy.

You can create a retention policy without adding any retention tags to it, but items in the mailbox to which the policy is applied won't be moved or deleted. You can also add and remove retention tags from a retention policy after it's created.
On the Choose retention tags page, select the tags you want, and then select Add.

A retention policy can contain the following tags:
- One DPT with the Move item to archive action.
- One DPT with the Delete and allow recovery or Permanently delete actions.
- One DPT for voice mail messages with the Delete and allow recovery or Permanently delete actions.
- One RPT per default folder such as Inbox to delete items.
- Any number of personal tags.
Note

Although you can add any number of personal tags to a retention policy, having many personal tags with different retention settings can confuse users. We recommend linking no more than ten personal tags to a retention policy.
Review and submit to create your retention policy with your configurations.

You can create a retention policy without adding any retention tags to it, but items in the mailbox to which the policy is applied won't be moved or deleted. You can also add and remove retention tags from a retention policy after it's created.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create a retention policy

The following example creates the retention policy RetentionPolicy-Corp and uses the RetentionPolicyTagLinks parameter to associate five retention tags to the policy:

New-RetentionPolicy "RetentionPolicy-Corp"  -RetentionPolicyTagLinks "DPT-Corp-Delete","DPT-Corp-Move","DPT-Corp-Voicemail","RPT-Corp-JunkMail","Never Delete"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicy.

Step 3: Apply a retention policy to mailbox users

After you create a retention policy, you must apply it to mailbox users. You can apply different retention policies to different set of users. For detailed instructions, see Apply a retention policy to mailboxes.

How do you know this worked?

After you create retention tags, add them to a retention policy, and apply the policy to a mailbox user, the next time the MRM mailbox assistant processes the mailbox, messages are moved or deleted based on settings you configured in the retention tags.

To verify that you have applied the retention policy, do the following:

Replace <Mailbox Identity> with the name, email address, or alias of the mailbox, and run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell command to run the MRM assistant manually against a single mailbox:
```
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity "<Mailbox Identity>"
```
Log on to the mailbox using Outlook or Outlook on the web and verify that messages are deleted or moved to an archive in accordance with the policy configuration.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Online or Exchange Online Protection.

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