Forum Discussion
Need to Purge DiscoveryHolds Data from Archive Mailbox in Exchange Online
Hello Team,
I am working on an Exchange Online mailbox where the archive mailbox has accumulated a large amount of data (over 335 GB) under the Recoverable Items → DiscoveryHolds folder. The mailbox is not on Litigation Hold or Retention Hold, and the InPlaceHolds property shows exclusions (-mbx...), so there are no active holds preventing deletion.
Environment Details
Service: Exchange Online
Mailbox: email address removed for privacy reasons
Archive mailbox size: ~335 GB
DiscoveryHolds subfolders contain the bulk of the data.
Background : Initially, the user’s primary mailbox was full because more than 100 GB of data resided in the Recoverable Items folder of the primary mailbox.
Since I was unable to delete the data, so as a workaround, I enabled the archive mailbox and moved the data there.
I have raised multiple tickets with Microsoft, but after more than 45 days, I still do not have a proper resolution.
Mailbox Hold Status
PS H:\> Get-Mailbox -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons -Archive | fl *hold*
LitigationHoldEnabled : False
RetentionHoldEnabled : False
EndDateForRetentionHold :
StartDateForRetentionHold :
LitigationHoldDate :
LitigationHoldOwner :
ComplianceTagHoldApplied : True
DelayHoldApplied : False
DelayReleaseHoldApplied : False
LitigationHoldDuration : Unlimited
SCLDeleteThreshold :
SCLRejectThreshold :
SCLQuarantineThreshold :
SCLJunkThreshold :
InPlaceHolds : {-mbx23233XXXXXX, -mbx212433XXXXXX}
RecipientThrottlingThreshold : Standard
PS H:\> Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity email address removed for privacy reasons -Archive -FolderScope RecoverableItems | ft Name,ItemsInFolder,FolderAndSubfolderSize
Recoverable Items : 0 335.2 GB
DiscoveryHolds : 80495 335.2 GB
DiscoveryHolds_2022 : 177 20.7 MB
DiscoveryHolds_2023 : 350 88.12 MB
DiscoveryHolds_2024 : 4117 1.34 GB
DiscoveryHolds_2025 (multiple subfolders): 47 GB – 55 GB each
Issue :
I need to purge only the DiscoveryHolds data from the archive mailbox without affecting other folders.
I tried using Search-Mailbox , but received: The term 'Search-Mailbox' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet...
I understand that Search-Mailbox is deprecated in Exchange Online. Also, the Content search is not very helpful.
Thanks andydavid1 and VasilMichev for your help.
The issue has now been resolved.
The root cause was that ComplianceTagHoldApplied was set to True. I set it to False using the following command:
Set-Mailbox "UserPrincipalName" -RemoveComplianceTagHoldApplied
After making this change, I was successfully able to purge the emails from the DiscoveryHolds folder.
3 Replies
Thanks andydavid1 and VasilMichev for your help.
The issue has now been resolved.
The root cause was that ComplianceTagHoldApplied was set to True. I set it to False using the following command:
Set-Mailbox "UserPrincipalName" -RemoveComplianceTagHoldApplied
After making this change, I was successfully able to purge the emails from the DiscoveryHolds folder.
Prob not the case for you, but verify that someone didn't enable Adaptive Protection in Purview. That places an org-wide hold on mailboxes - even ones that are flagged as risky.
You cannot purge items in DiscoveryHolds directly, best you can do is cleanup duplicates via:
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant user@domain.com -HoldCleanup
And you should check for org-wide holds. They will not appear under the InPlaceHolds property on the mailbox, and the fact that you have some exclusions therein does not mean that other org-wide holds are not in play. Moreover, the ComplianceTagHoldApplied property value confirms that you have at least one retention policy/label acting on the mailbox. So check via:
Get-OrganizationConfig | fl InPlaceHolds
and take the necessary actions. Refer to this article for more info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/ediscovery-identify-a-hold-on-an-exchange-online-mailbox
