Forum Discussion
Understanding retention for Exchange
Hello,
I have a problem with understanding two things about retention policy for Exchange:
1. Retention period vs. deleted items retention
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/retention-policies-exchange?view=o365-worldwide
There is an example here for the "retain and delete" setting:
If the item is modified or permanently deleted by the user (either SHIFT+DELETE or deleted from Deleted Items) during the retention period: The item is moved (or copied, in the case of edit) to the Recoverable Items folder. There, a timer job runs periodically and identifies items whose retention period has expired, and these items are permanently deleted within 14 days of the end of the retention period. Note that 14 days is the default setting, but it can be configured up to 30 days.
According to other articles, soft deleted items can stay in the Recoverable Items folder for maximum 30 days. They go to "Deletions" and can be seen there by the end-user. What happens then if the retention policy for Exchange is 5 years? Does the soft deleted message go to "Deletions" and stay there for up to 5 years (and can be seen all the time by the end-user) and is permanently deleted 14 (or 30) days after the end of retention period set by the policy? Or 14/30 days after soft deletion, it moves from "Deletions" to "Variants", or some other subfolder? It is not really clear to me.. .- Interaction of the retention policy for Exchange mailbox with no retention policy for Teams
I understand the that Teams chats and channel messages are not included in retention policies that are configured for Exchange user or group mailboxes. So, in principle if there is no retention policy defined for private Teams chats, and the end-user deletes a message from Teams chat, it should be permanently deleted after 1-7 days. However, it is mentioned (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/retention-policies-teams?view=o365-worldwideđ
Because of the first principle retention and since Teams chat and channel messages are stored in Exchange Online mailboxes, permanent deletion from the SubstrateHolds folder is always suspended if the mailbox is affected by another retention policy (including policies applied to the Exchange location)
Does it mean that if there is "5 years delete" policy defined for Exchange, the user deleted Teams chat messages will stay in Substrate Holds? What if the Exchange policy setting is "delete-only"? Is it different when MRM policy of let's say 5 years is used?
Thank you so much in advance for your help.
Best,
Tony
- 1) The Deletions folder keeps items to 14 (max 30) days, after that they're moved to the Purges folder within the RecoverableItems subtree and stay there for the duration of any "retain" tag/policy applicable to them. There's detailed information about how the RecoverableItems subtree works here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/recoverable-items-folder/recoverable-items-folder
2) That applies to situations where you have a "blanket" policy that affects the mailbox. If you want to dispose of Teams messages, do not use a mailbox-level hold/retention policy.Thanks a lot. Point 1 is now clear to me.
Ad 2 but MRM policy â5 year deleteâ (set in EAC) will not affect disposal of deleted Teams chat messages?- If it's a default tag, it will likely apply to Teams chat messages too. They are stored in a separate folder, part of the non-IPM subtree now, but default tags apply therein as well, I believe.
