You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Messaging records management" entry in the Messaging Policy and Compliance Permissions topic.

Use the EAC to create a retention tag

1. Navigate to Compliance management > Retention tags, and then click Add
   
   
2. Select one of the following options:
   
   
   • Applied automatically to entire mailbox (default)   Select this option to create a default policy tag (DPT). You can use DPTs to create a default deletion policy and a default archive policy, which applies to all items in the mailbox.
     
     

     Note:
     You can’t use the EAC to create a DPT to delete voice mail items. For details about how to create a DPT to delete voice mail items, see the Shell example below.

   • Applied automatically to a specific folder   Select this option to create a retention policy tag (RPT) for a default folder such as Inbox or Deleted Items.
     
     

     Note:
     You can only create RPTs with the Delete and allow recovery or Permanently delete actions.

   • Applied by users to items and folders (Personal)   Select this option to create personal tags. These tags allow Outlook and Outlook Web App users to apply archive or deletion settings to a message or folders that are different from the settings applied to the parent folder or the entire mailbox.
     
     
3. The New retention tag page title and options will vary depending on the type of tag you selected. Complete the following fields:
   
   
   • Name   Enter a name for the retention tag. The tag name is for display purposes and doesn’t have any impact on the folder or item a tag is applied to. Consider that the personal tags you provision for users are available in Outlook and Outlook Web App.
     
     
   • Apply this tag to the following default folder   This option is available only if you selected Applied automatically to a specific folder.
     
     
   • Retention action   Select one of the following actions to be taken after the item reaches its retention period:
     
     
     • Delete and Allow Recovery   Select this action to delete items but allow users to recover them using the Recover Deleted Items option in Outlook or Outlook Web App. Items are retained until the deleted item retention period configured for the mailbox database or the mailbox user is reached.
       
       
     • Permanently Delete   Select this option to permanently delete the item from the mailbox database.
       
       

       Important:
       Mailboxes or items subject to In-Place Hold or litigation hold will be retained and returned in In-Place eDiscovery searches. To learn more, see In-Place Hold.

     • Move to Archive   This action is available only if you’re creating a DPT or a personal tag. Select this action to move items to the user’s In-Place Archive.
       
       
   • Retention period   Select one of the following options:
     
     
     • Never   Select this option to specify that items should never be deleted or moved to the archive.
       
       
     • When the item reaches the following age (in days)   Select this option and specify the number of days to retain items before they’re moved or deleted. The retention age for all supported items except Calendar and Tasks is calculated from the date an item is received or created. Retention age for Calendar and Tasks items is calculated from the end date.
       
       
   • Comment   User this optional field to enter any administrative notes or comments. The field isn’t displayed to users.
     
     

Use the Shell to create a retention tag

Use the New-RetentionPolicyTag cmdlet to create a retention tag. Different options available in the cmdlet allow you to create different types of retention tags. Use the Type parameter to create a DPT (All), RPT (specify a default folder type, such as Inbox) or a personal tag (Personal).

This example creates a DPT to delete all messages in the mailbox after 7 years (2,556 days).

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New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Delete" -Type All -AgeLimitForRetention 2556 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery

This example creates a DPT to move all messages to the In-Place Archive in 2 years (730 days).

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New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Move" -Type All -AgeLimitForRetention 730 -RetentionAction MoveToArchive

This example creates a DPT to delete voice mail messages after 20 days.

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New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "DPT-Corp-Voicemail" -Type All -MessageClass Voicemail -AgeLimitForRetention 20 -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery

This example creates a RPT to permanently delete messages in the Junk EMail folder after 30 days.

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New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "RPT-Corp-JunkMail" -Type JunkEmail -AgeLimitForRetention 30 -RetentionAction PermanentlyDelete

This example creates a personal tag to never delete a message.

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New-RetentionPolicyTag -Name "Never Delete" -Type Personal -RetentionAction DeleteAndAllowRecovery -RetentionEnabled $false

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Messaging records management" entry in the Messaging Policy and Compliance Permissions topic.

Use the EAC to create a retention policy

1. Navigate to Compliance management > Retention policies, and then click Add
   
   
2. In New Retention Policy, complete the following fields:
   
   
   • Name   Enter a name for the retention policy.
     
     
   • Retention tags   Click Add to select the tags you want to add to this retention policy.
     
     A retention policy can contain the following tags:
     
     
     • One DPT with the Move to Archive action
       
       
     • One DPT with the Delete and Allow Recovery or Permanently Delete actions
       
       
     • One DPT for voice mail messages with the Delete and Allow Recovery or Permanently Delete actions
       
       
     • One RPT per default folder such as Inbox to delete items
       
       
     • Any number of personal tags
       
       

       Note:
       Although you can add any number of personal tags to a retention policy, having many personal tags with different retention settings can confuse users. We recommend linking no more than ten personal tags to a retention policy.

     You can create a retention policy without adding any retention tags to it, but items in the mailbox to which the policy is applied won’t be moved or deleted. You can also add and remove retention tags from a retention policy after it’s created.
     
     

Use the Shell to create a retention policy

This example creates the retention policy RetentionPolicy-Corp and uses the RetentionPolicyTagLinks parameter to associate five tags to the policy.

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New-RetentionPolicy "RetentionPolicy-Corp" -RetentionPolicyTagLinks "DPT-Corp-Delete","DPT-Corp-Move","DPT-Corp-Voicemail","RPT-Corp-JunkMail","Never Delete"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-RetentionPolicy.

After you create a retention policy, you must apply it to mailbox users. You can apply different retention policies to different set of users. For detailed instructions, see Apply a Retention Policy to Mailboxes.