Create a Retention Tag

Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2

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.

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

• Use the Shell to create a retention tag

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.

1. In the console tree, expand the forest you want, and then navigate to Organization Configuration > Mailbox.

2. In the action pane, click New Retention Policy Tag.

3. 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.

     Permanently Delete   If you select this option, messages are permanently deleted and aren't recoverable by the user.

     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.

4. 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

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.

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:

• Create a Retention Policy

• Apply a Retention Policy to Mailboxes

• Place a Mailbox on Retention Hold

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