Email Retention

Hello Huipeng,

Thank you for reaching out to us about the email retention policy on your mailbox. I hope this message finds you well.

I understand that you've discovered that your mailbox has a retention policy of 6 months, and you're concerned about retrieving deleted emails from March to May. You'd also like to know how to cancel the retention policy for emails in your inbox. I apologize for any inconvenience this is causing, and I appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.

To better understand the issue, can you please clarify the following:

1. Are you using a Microsoft 365 account or an on-premises Exchange server?

2. Administrative Permissions: Do you have access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, or would you need assistance from your IT administrator to retrieve the emails or modify policies?

3. Have you checked the "Recoverable Items" folder in your mailbox for the deleted emails?
4. What version of Outlook are you using?- About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support

Retention policies are set to automatically delete or archive emails after a certain period, often for compliance, security, or storage management. For example, a policy might move emails older than six months to the "Deleted Items" or "Recoverable Items" folder, or permanently delete them after that.

However, these emails are usually recoverable within a specific timeframe unless they've been permanently purged.

Kindly follow this guide which requires administrative access. If you do not have admin access please seek help from IT administrator in your organization.

Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center:

• Go to Compliance > Content Search.
• Create a search query specifying the date range (March to May).
• Export the search results.

E-Discovery in Microsoft Purview:

• Use eDiscovery to find and export deleted emails, especially for compliance-related purposes.
• You can manage and troubleshoot the retention policies for your mailbox.
• Go to the Exchange admin center and log in with your admin credentials.
• Navigate to Compliance management > Retention policies and update the policy for your mailbox.

If you are proficient in powershell you can also try this:

Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell:

• Run:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName your_email@example.com

Search for Deleted Items:

• Run:

Search-Mailbox -Identity "Huipeng" -SearchQuery "Received:>=03/01/2024 AND Received:<=05/31/2024" -TargetMailbox "RecoveryMailbox" -TargetFolder "RecoveredEmails" -LogLevel Full

Restore Items:

• Once emails are recovered to the target mailbox or folder, move them back to your primary mailbox.

Cancel or Modify the Retention Policy To prevent future email deletions:

From the Admin Center:

• Go to Exchange Admin Center.
• Navigate to Retention Policies.
• Locate the policy applied to your mailbox and:
  • Increase the retention period.
  • Exclude your mailbox from the policy.

Via PowerShell:

• List current retention policies:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "Huipeng" | Select-Object RetentionPolicy

Remove the retention policy:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "Huipeng" -RetentionPolicy $null

Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can find a solution together.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding, and thank you for your time and cooperation. Have a nice day!

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft community.

Sincerely,

Microsoft Community Moderator