Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-23
Retention tags are used to apply retention settings to folders and individual items such as messages, notes, and contacts. These settings specify how long a message remains in the mailbox and the action to take when the message reaches the specified retention age. When a message reaches its retention age, it's moved to the archive mailbox, deleted, or flagged for user attention.
There are three types of retention tags:
- Retention policy tags (RPTs) These tags
are created for default folders such as Inbox and Deleted
Items.
- Default policy tags (DPTs) These tags
apply to all items that don't have a retention tag applied, either
inherited or explicit. You can have a maximum of three default
policy tags in a retention policy: a DPT with the Move to
Archive action, a DPT with the Delete and Allow Recovery
or Permanently Delete action to delete messages from the
primary and archive mailboxes, and a DPT for voice mail
messages.
- Personal tags These tags are available
to Microsoft Outlook 2010 and Microsoft Office Outlook Web App
users as part of their retention policy. Users can apply personal
tags to folders they create or to individual items, even if those
items already have a different tag applied.
To learn more about retention tags, see Understanding Retention Tags and Retention Policies.
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After you create retention tags, additional steps are required to deploy them to user mailboxes. You must add retention tags to a retention policy, and then apply the policy to a mailbox. For details, see Add or Remove Retention Tags from a Retention Policy and Apply a Retention Policy to Mailboxes. |
Looking for other management tasks related to messaging records management (MRM)? Check out Deploying Messaging Records Management.
What Do You Want To Do?
Use the EMC to create a retention tag
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Messaging records management" entry in the Messaging Policy and Compliance Permissions topic.
- In the console tree, expand the forest you want, and then
navigate to Organization Configuration >
Mailbox.
- In the action pane, click New Retention Policy Tag.
- On the
New Retention Policy Tag page, complete the following
fields:
- Tag Name Use this box to type a name
for the retention tag. This is the name of the retention tag object
in Active Directory. This name can contain up to 64 characters.
- Tag Type Use this list to select the
type of retention tag that you want to create. To create a RPT for
a default folder (for example, Inbox), select the default
folder name. To create a DPT, select All other folders in the
mailbox. To create a personal tag, select Personal
Folder.
- Age limit for retention (days) Click
this button to specify that items have a retention period. In the
corresponding text box, type the number of days in the retention
period. (The range of values is from 1 through 24,855 days.)
- Action to take when the age limit is
reached After clicking Age limit for
retention (days), you can use this list to specify what should
happen to an item when it's past the age limit for retention. The
choices include:
Delete and Allow Recovery If you select this option, messages are deleted but can be recovered by using the Recover Deleted Items feature in Outlook or Outlook Web App. To learn more about these features see the "Recover deleted items" topic for Outlook or Outlook Web App.
Note: Users can only recover deleted items for the retention time you specify in the RetainDeletedItemsFor parameter of the Set-Mailbox cmdlet.
Move to Archive If you select this option, messages are automatically moved to the user's archive mailbox. If you haven't created an archive mailbox for the user, no action is taken.
Note: You can't use the EMC to create a retention tag with the Mark as Past Retention Limit retention action. You must use the New-RetentionPolicyTag cmdlet with the MarkAsPastRetentionLimit parameter. - Disable this tag Click this button to
disable the processing of this tag. The Managed Folder Assistant
won't process messages that have a disabled tag applied.
- Comments Use this box to type a comment
that will be displayed to the user in Outlook. For example, to
alert users that MRM is enabled on the folder, you could type the
following message: "Messages are removed from this folder after 120
days." The maximum length of this comment is 255 characters. To
configure localized comments, use the Set-RetentionPolicyTag
cmdlet.
- Tag Name Use this box to type a name
for the retention tag. This is the name of the retention tag object
in Active Directory. This name can contain up to 64 characters.
- On the
Completion page, review the following, and then click
Finish to close the wizard:
- A status of Completed indicates that the wizard
completed the task successfully.
- A status of Failed indicates that the task wasn't
completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an
explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration
changes.
- A status of Completed indicates that the wizard
completed the task successfully.
Use the Shell to create a retention tag
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Messaging records management" entry in the Messaging Policy and Compliance Permissions topic.
Use the Shell to create a retention policy tag for the default folder Deleted Items
This example creates a retention policy tag for the default folder Deleted Items. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, items in the Deleted Items folder are permanently deleted after 30 days.
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New-RetentionPolicyTag "Corp-Exec-DeletedItems" -Type DeletedItems -Comment "Deleted Items are purged after 30 days" -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 30 -RetentionAction PermanentlyDelete |
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicyTag.
Use the Shell to create a default policy tag to move messages
This example creates a default policy tag to move messages. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, items without an inherited or explicitly applied retention tag are moved to the archive mailbox after 365 days.
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New-RetentionPolicyTag "Corp-Exec -Default" -Type All -Comment "Items without a retention tag are moved after 1 year." -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 365 -RetentionAction MoveToArchive |
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicyTag.
Use the Shell to create a default policy tag to delete messages
This example creates a default policy tag to delete messages. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, items without an inherited or explicitly applied retention tag are deleted after 1,095 days (three years).
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New-RetentionPolicyTag "Corp-Exec -Default" -Type All -Comment "Items without a retention tag are deleted after 3 years." -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 1095 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery |
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicyTag.
Use the Shell to create a default policy tag for voice mail messages
This example creates a default policy tag for voice mail messages. When the tag is applied to a mailbox, voice mail messages without an inherited or explicitly applied retention tag are deleted after 14 days.
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New-RetentionPolicyTag "Corp-Exec -Voice Mail" -Type All -MessageClass voicemail -Comment "Voice mail messages without a retention tag are deleted after 14 days." -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 14 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery |
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By default, the MessageClass parameter defaults to *, which applies to all message types. A mailbox can have a maximum of three default tags: a DPT with the Move to Archive action, a DPT with the Delete and Allow Recovery or Permanently Delete actions to delete messages from the primary and archive mailboxes, and a DPT for voice mail messages. You can only specify the MessageClass parameter for voice mail DPTs. |
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicyTag.
Use the Shell to create a personal tag
This example creates the personal tag Corp-BusinessCritical. Items to which the tag is applied are moved to the user's archive mailbox after three years.
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New-RetentionPolicyTag "Corp-BusinessCritical" -Type Personal -Comment "Business Critical messages are moved to the archive after 3 years." -RetentionEnabled $true -AgeLimitForRetention 1095 -RetentionAction MoveToArchive |
For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicyTag.
Other Tasks
After you create a retention tag, you may also want to: