A retention policy defines how long to keep email in certain folders. You can set the retention policy on any folder you create. However, some system-level folders, also known as default folders, have retention policies that cannot be modified.
Retention policies for default folders
Retention policies for default folders are automatically enforced.
| Default Folder | Retention |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Until manually deleted |
| Deleted Items | Until manually deleted |
| Length of time items are available after being deleted from the Deleted Items folder | 14 days |
| Junk Email | 30 days |
| Sent | Until manually deleted |
Note: Microsoft 365 accounts are not backed up. However, you can recover message up to 14 days from when it is emptied from your Deleted Items folder. See Recover Deleted Email for more information.
Retention policies for personal folders
Personal retention policies for folders you create can be assigned from webmail. If you don't assign a policy, the folder or subfolder uses the policy of its parent folder.
To see the retention policies that are currently available to you, click the Settings icon and then click Options. In the left pane, navigate to Mail > Automatic processing > Retention policies.
To assign a retention policy to a folder:
- In webmail, right-click a folder and then click Assign policy.
- Click the retention period for which you would like to keep messages in this folder before they are automatically deleted.
Online Archive
For users approaching their 100GB quota, you can request an Online Archive. This allows an additional storage location that has unlimited quota. Messages need to be moved to the Online Archive manually or via policies. Once your Online Archive has been created, you will see additional policies that can be assigned to move messages automatically to your Online Archive.
Archive Policies
- Personal 1 year move to archive: Will take any messages in the folder more than 1 year old and move them to an identically named folder in your Online Archive.
- Personal 3 year move to archive: Will take any messages in the folder more than 3 years old and move them to an identically named folder in your Online Archive.
- Personal 5 year move to archive: Will take any messages in the folder more than 5 years old and move them to an identically named folder in your Online Archive.
Note: Policies can take up to a week to move messages.
To assign a policy to a folder:
- In webmail, right-click a folder and then click Assign policy.
- Chose from one of the policies above.
To request an Online Archive, please submit a Help request.
