Update 10/17/2025: We updated the content of this blog post, the timelines and the FAQ to align with customer feedback we received after initial announcement.
TL; DR: A new capability called Auto A...
Updated Oct 17, 2025
Version 5.0
Blog Post
So we get 8 days' notice for a feature that cannot be disabled? I understand the principle behind this, but there really should be the ability to disable this feature without having to also disable a user's archive.
Nino_Bilic
Microsoft
MicrosoftCan you help me understand this a bit more:
In which scenario would you want to disable this (with understanding that the alternative of time-based archiving is that the user runs out of mailbox quota and has disruption of service)?
I would like to see a mailbox attribute where admins can set this feature to give admins more control. Example :
Set-Mailbox "John Doe - JD" -AutoArchiveEnabled $False/$True
Then we as IT Dept could set VIP's to disabled for this feature and handle the Mailbox Quota exceeded process differently.
It will be nice to have the control, but remember, it’s not like the email is being deleted….
We allow our users great leeway in determining when items move to their archive. By default, it's 3 years. But they can choose a longer tag for a folder instead. Such as 5 years. We mainly do this because some user, particularly VIPs, have delegates and once an email gets moved to their archive, the delegate loses access. So our VIPs can choose sensitive folders to retain items longer, so their delegates will continue to access them.
We've trained our users to expect when they put a 5 year tag on something, it's going to stay there for at least 5 years.
Now, those folders they've chosen a longer archive date for are going to be the first things that disappear to this new policy. I hope you can understand why that puts us admins in a difficult position. It's also terribly problematic that it's predominantly going to affect our VIP users. The users who have the most power and influence and make spending decisions. It's incredibly awkward.
It's not necessarily that there's an immediate need to disable it, but from an OCM standpoint, it is desirable to have these new features tested and launched in a controlled manner within our organization. By introducing a new feature that is on by default for all users with no way to disable or delay it, Microsoft is forcing us to rush through our OCM process within the next 8 days and communicate this new feature to our user base in a very short timeframe.
Karthik_MSnhawk258 We appreciate your feedback. However, we would like to clarify that this feature is triggered only when the mailbox reaches 90% of the user's quota.
For instance, if a user’s mailbox is governed by a “5-year move to archive” policy but fills up within 2 years, it may hinder the user's ability to send or receive emails. This feature is designed to proactively archive items once the mailbox approaches its capacity threshold, thereby helping to prevent any disruption in mail flow. This rollout will be gradual; it might take a month to reach all customers in WW cloud.
I do understand the feature as it has been shared. My issue is not with the feature; it's with the short timeframe and Microsoft not allowing organizations to manage this setting on their own. Organizations often see pushback on auto-archiving in the first place; 8 days' notice is going to cause nothing but frustration from business users.
You've mentioned this rollout will be gradual in your comment, but the article says it is going GA for all WW customers on October 15, 2025. How can we see if this feature has reached our tenant?
To be honest, this seems to be poorly executed and not something customers were asking for. It might be worth putting a pause and reevaluating this change instead of rushing it with 8 days of notice.
Not OP, but I'd like to share my perspective.
We are providing archive mailboxes to users on ediscovery hold, when their recoverable items folder reaches >95% size. Once the hold is released (and therefore the recoverable items folder size decreases massively), the archive mailbox is removed again.
We inform our users not to store any content in the archive mailbox, it's just used to prevent the inevitable issue of the recoverable items folder quota. If you enable this feature, mails will automatically be moved to the archive mailbox and when we remove the archive again, users will lose their mails.
The alternative of keeping the archive mailbox enabled, while technically possible, is against our company guidelines and will take a lot of convincing our legal and data privacy departments. While this may be possible, it is definitely not doable within a week.
So unless there is another solution to fix the "recoverable items folder quota while on ediscover hold" issue, enabling this feature will break our processes for no reason.
- Karthik_MS
GraciousMule Thank you for sharing your perspective. I’d like to clarify the behavior related to the recoverable items folder.
When the archive mailbox is enabled for a user, items from the recoverable items folder are automatically moved to the archive after 14 days. This is the current default behavior. The intent of this feature is to prevent the recoverable items folder from reaching its quota limit, which can lead to mail flow disruptions.Please note that this feature does not provision archive mailboxes automatically—it only archives items if the archive is already enabled and the mailbox reaches a critical threshold.
Could you please provide additional details regarding the request below?
So unless there is another solution to fix the "recoverable items folder quota while on ediscover hold" issue, enabling this feature will break our processes for no reason.
Thanks for your reply, but I don't think I explained the issue properly, as you have missed my point.
Currently our process looks like this:
- mailbox on ediscovery hold with >95% recoverable items folder quota reached
- provision archive mailbox
- inform user not to move any data to the archive mailbox (as only the automated move of recoverable items is needed)
- Mailbox released from hold
- delete archive mailbox
This allows the user to continue using the mailbox while on hold. Once the hold is released, the archive mailbox is deleted as per our companies guidelines.
Now with auto-archiving enabled, it would work like this:
- mailbox on ediscovery hold with > 95% recoverable items folder quota reached
- provision archive mailbox
- mails are auto-archived
- mailbox released from hold
- delete archive mailbox
- user opens incident for missing mails which were auto-archived
Could you please provide additional details regarding the request below?
Sure. It would be great if (high volume) users could continue using their mailbox while on ediscovery hold without the need for the archive mailbox workaround. Ideally, Microsoft would increase the recoverable items folder size (while on hold) or not count the items stored only for hold purposes against the recoverable items folder quota.
Also, if there is another solution without the usage of archive mailboxes, I'd be happy to implement that, but as far as I know, there is not.
