How Retention Periods Are Calculated for Items in Managed Folders

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

If you set a retention limit on items in a managed folder, the managed folder assistant tests the age of those items and takes the specified action for items that have exceeded their retention limit. This topic describes how the managed folder assistant determines whether an item has exceeded a retention limit.

Determining the Age of Different Types of Items

When you create managed content settings for a managed folder, you can select one of the following two options to specify how the managed folder assistant determines when a retention period starts:

• When the item is delivered to the user's mailbox (or for calendar items and recurring tasks, when the item is older than its end date)

• When the user moves the item into the managed folder

  Note

  When you specify that a retention period starts when the user moves the item into the managed folder, the retention period does not actually start until the next time the managed folder assistant runs. Therefore, it is recommended that you set the managed folder assistant to run daily. For detailed instructions, see How to Schedule the Managed Folder Assistant.

After determining when a retention period starts, the managed folder assistant uses rules to determine the age of items for the purpose of enforcing retention limits. The tables in this section describe the rules used for various items.

For information about how to create managed content settings in the Exchange Management Console, see How to Create Managed Content Settings.

For information about how to create managed content settings in the Exchange Management Shell, see New-ManagedContentSettings.

Calendar Items

Depending on whether a calendar item is in the Deleted Items folder, the managed folder assistant uses the following rules to calculate the age of calendar items and enforce retention limits. The steps for each rule are listed in the order in which they are performed.

Location of calendar items	Rules
Calendar items in the Deleted Items folder	A calendar item expires according to its message-received date, if one exists. If a calendar item does not have a message-received date, it expires according to its message-creation date. If a calendar item has neither a message-received date nor a message-creation date, it does not expire.
Calendar items not in the Deleted Items folder	Non-recurring calendar items expire according to their end date. Recurring calendar items expire according to the end date of their last occurrence. Recurring calendar items with no end date do not expire.

Tasks

Depending on whether a task is in the Deleted Items folder, the managed folder assistant uses the rules listed in the following table to calculate the age of tasks and enforce retention limits. The steps for each rule are listed in the order in which they are performed.

Location of tasks	Rules
Tasks in the Deleted Items folder	A task expires according to its message-received date, if one exists. If a task does not have a message-received date, it expires according to its message-creation date. If a task has neither a message-received date nor a message-creation date, it does not expire.
Tasks not in the Deleted Items folder	Non-recurring tasks: A non-recurring task expires according to its message-received date, if one exists. If a non-recurring task does not have a message-received date, it expires according to its message-creation date. If a non-recurring task has neither a message-received date nor a message-creation date, it does not expire. A recurring task expires according to the end date of its last occurrence. If a recurring task does not have an end date, it does not expire. A regenerating task (which is a recurring task that regenerates a specified time after the preceding instance of the task is completed) does not expire.

Other Items

For all other types of items, the managed folder assistant uses the following rules to calculate the age and enforce retention limits. These items include:

• E-mail messages

• Contacts

• Documents

• Faxes

• Journal items

• Meeting requests, responses, and cancellations

• Missed calls

The steps for each rule are listed in the order in which they are performed.

Period at which retention starts	Rules
When an item is delivered to a user's mailbox	If the item has a message-received date, the message-received date is used. If the item does not have a message-received date, the message-creation date is used. If the item does not have a message-creation date, the message does not expire.
When a user moves the item to the managed folder	If the item has a move date, the move date is used. If the item does not have a move date, the item does not expire.

Corrupt Items

Any corrupt items in a mailbox are skipped by the managed folder assistant and do not expire.

For More Information

To learn more about messaging records management (MRM), see Understanding Messaging Records Management.

To learn more about the various terms associated with MRM, see Messaging Records Management Terminology.

For more information about creating managed content settings in the Exchange Management Console, see How to Create Managed Content Settings.

For more information about creating managed content settings in the Exchange Management Shell, see New-ManagedContentSettings.