Mail Retention and Restore Guidance
Mail Retention Policy
When a user account is closed, such as when a member of staff leaves, we will always advise on how best to back up or migrate emails to another service or location. If you begin to fill your mailbox to capacity of 100GB, then it may not be possible to keep all your emails and it may be necessary to delete older ones to make room or create an archive.
Deleted Item Retention Policy
If you delete an item in your mailbox, it will enter the deleted items folder. This is like the recycle bin on a Windows desktop computer and the email hasn't actually been deleted yet, it has simply been put into a sub-folder named deleted items. Periodically it is a good idea to empty your deleted items folder to clear out these old emails and get back space in your mailbox. When you do this, any email in the deleted items folder will be removed from view and marked for deletion. Retention period for items removed from the Deleted Items folder is 14 days.
Restore Guidance
Recovering items from your 'Deleted Items' location will depend on what mail client you are using (Outlook, Thunderbird, OWA, etc.), however the broad principles are the same.
- In your mail client, locate your 'Deleted Items' folder and click on it to enter.
- Your recently deleted emails will be here. To put them somewhere else, you can click and drag them into another folder, such as your inbox. Alternatively, you can right click on them and select 'move' and place the email in another folder.
- Your email will now be moved into the folder you selected.
If your item is at STEP 4 , where you have emptied your 'Deleted Items' folder, then the email be be located in your 'Recover Deleted Items' location (or equivalent). Items only remain here for 90 days before they are automatically, and permanently, deleted.
As CSCS operate a Microsoft technologies based email server system, this functionality is generally limited to Microsoft email clients such as Outlook and OWA. You may not be able to recover deleted items from the server using other mail clients.
- Select the 'Deleted Items' folder on your left-hand pane. In this example, the folder has been emptied that day and there are no emails presently visible.
- In the top ribbon menu, the 'HOME' tab will have an option to recover deleted items from server. Click this to open a new window.
- You will be shown your deleted items that are still present on the server. It is important to note that these are retained for 90 days after they are cleared from your 'deleted items' folder and after this time they will be permanently deleted from the server too. To recover items from this page, simply select the emails you wish to restore, then select the 'Restore Selected Items' option at the bottom and press 'Ok' to complete the process.
- After a few seconds, the emails you selected will appear back in your 'Deleted Items' folder automatically. You can then move them as required.
- Select the 'Deleted Items' folder on your left-hand pane. In this example, the folder has been emptied that day and there are no emails presently visible.
- If your item is at STEP 6 , where you have emptied your 'Deleted Items' folder and 14 days has elapsed, then your email has been permanently deleted and is no longer recoverable.
More Exchange online limits can be found at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/exchange-online-service-description/exchange-online-limits.