Limitation on number of emails to be deleted via New-ComplianceSearchAction

Chingis Rustemov 21 Reputation points
2022-05-16T13:30:37.893+00:00

Hello

Is there any limitation on number of emails which can be deleted by New-ComplianceSearchAction?What I have noticed with SoftDelete is that it can work only on 10 e,ails, and if the number exceeds it the code do nothing. I use this command: New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName "all" -Purge -PurgeType SoftDelete

P.S. The same with HardDelete.

Is there a way to delete a bulk of emails of a user with PowerShell in Exchange Online?

Microsoft Exchange Online Management
Microsoft Exchange Online Management
Microsoft Exchange Online: A Microsoft email and calendaring hosted service.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
7,342 questions

2 answers

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  1. Vasil Michev 95,096 Reputation points MVP
    2022-05-16T14:03:54.753+00:00

    You've already found the limitation, there's no way around it. If you need to delete more than 10 items, run additional instances of New-ComplianceSearchAction. Or use the good old Search-Mailbox cmdlet.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Joyce Shen - MSFT 16,641 Reputation points
    2022-05-17T02:35:35.427+00:00

    Hi @Chingis Rustemov

    Yes, considering that the recoverable items folder play an essitial role in preserving data for mailboxes on hold, normally it's recommended to use the New-ComplianceSearchAction cmdlet which has a limit of 10 items at one time to lower the potential impact of mistakes.

    If you insist on deleting more than 10 items at a time, you can use the Search-Mailbox cmdlet instead. The example below searchs and deletes the items received in the last three months from user1's recoverable items folder: 

     Search-Mailbox -Identity user1 -SearchDumpsterOnly -SearchQuery {Received:"2020/5/22..2020/8/24"} -EstimateResultOnly  
 Search-Mailbox -Identity user1 -SearchDumpsterOnly -SearchQuery {Received:"2020/5/22..2020/8/24"} -DeleteContent

    202524-image.png

    And here is a script to purge messages from Exchange Online using an Office 365 content search and a purge action applied to the results of that search.

    For more related information:
    How to Run Microsoft 365 Content Searches to Purge Exchange Online Messages
    Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

    Is there a way to delete more than 10 items at a time from the RecoverableItems folder?

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