Retention policy does not work automatically in Exchange Online for Office 365

Symptom

In Microsoft Exchange Online for Microsoft Office 365, you apply a retention policy that moves email messages from a user’s mailbox to the archive mailbox. In this scenario, the retention policy does not automatically run.

 

Cause

The issue occurs because the retention policy runs automatically one time every 7 days for mailboxes that are larger than 10 MB. However, the retention policy does not automatically run for mailboxes that are smaller than 10 MB or within 7 days’ work cycle.

 

Resolution

To resolve the issue, manually run Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Identity <mailbox> cmdlet to force Managed Folder Assistant to process the specific mailbox in Exchange Online for Office 365.

//To resolve the issue, follow the steps:

 

1. Connect Windows PowerShell to cloud-based service.

2. Manually run Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Identity <mailbox> cmdlet to force Managed Folder Assistant to process the specific mailbox.

More Information

Messages are not automatically moved to a user's archive mailbox after you create a retention policy in Exchange Online for Office 365

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2627729

 

Start-ManagedFolderAssistant

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998864.aspx

 

Set Up and Manage Retention Policies in Exchange Online

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-sg/exchangelabshelp/gg271153#defaulttags

Connect Windows PowerShell to the Service

https://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/cc952755.aspx

 

 

Applies To

Office 365 Exchange Online