How to Apply Shared Mailbox Retention Policy

Learn to manually configure your Office 365 settings

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Key notes

  • If you're looking for ways to apply a Shared Mailbox Retention Policy in Office 365, you need to be an admin.
  • Admins can create a Retention Policy assigned to mailboxes using a retention tag.
  • Read on to find out exactly how to set a Retention Policy for Shared Mailbox on your own device.
Apply Retention Policy to Shared Mailbox

In Office 365, admins can create an archiving and deletion policy that automatically moves items to a user’s archive mailbox or deletes items after they reach a certain age limit. This means creating a retention policy that’s assigned to mailboxes.

Are you looking for a way to apply a Retention Policy to Shared Mailbox? Let us guide you on how to perform the procedure.

Why should I set a Retention Policy in Office 365?

You might have tried to attach a personal retention tag to a shared mailbox that deletes all emails older than 30 days, letโ€™s say.

The default 1-month delete tag from the O365 web portal doesnโ€™t seem to function. It just states instead No retention policies have been applied to this mailbox. Parameter name: Mailbox.

Thatโ€™s a clear sign that youโ€™re supposed to apply this policy as quickly as possible. Read on to find out how to do it.

How can I apply the Retention Policy to Shared Mailbox?

The procedure of setting the Shared Mailbox Retention Policy basically involves applying the retention tag to a shared mailbox, along with setting retention URL, hold duration, etc., for shared mailboxes in bulk.

A retention tag applies retention settings to individual messages and folders in the user’s mailbox. The tag defines how long a message remains in the mailbox and what happens when the message reaches the specified retention age.

It’s up to you – do you want it moved to the user’s archive mailbox or simply deleted? Make up your mind about that and then youโ€™re ready to apply the Retention Policy to Shared Mailbox.

1.ย First, make sure youโ€™ve signed into your Windows device with your user ID. Thatโ€™s the one associated with your Office 365 license.

2. Open your preferred browser.

3. Navigate to the Office 365 web page. If you use Edge, you can see the tab for Office 365 as soon as you launch it. Click on it.

office 365 tab in edge

4. Selectย Managementย from the left navigation section.

5. Up next, click onย Mailbox Management.

6. Now selectย Shared Mailbox Retention Policy.

7. Choose theย O365 tenantย to which you want to apply the settings.

8. Give all necessary inputs.

9. Clickย Enter name(s)ย to search for the desired objects.

10. You may also import details from a CSV file. For that, clickย Download Sample CSVย to view the format, before import.

11. Now, select the objects for which you wish to apply this configuration.

12. Clickย Selected Objects countย to preview selected objects.

13. Pressย Apply.

Click Apply to shared mailbox

14. Finally, you can view the status of the operation.

15. The retention policy usually takes effect after seven days by default. To verify that the new retention policy was indeed assigned to mailboxes, select a mailbox on theย Mailboxes page, and then clickย Edit.

Then, on theย mailbox properties pageย for the selected user, click onย Mailbox features. The name of the new policy assigned to the mailbox should be now displayed in theย Retention policy drop-down list.

We hope our article helped you set a Shared Mailbox Retention Policy on your device without any problems.

If you have any questions or concerns about the procedure, don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section below.

More about the topics: Office 365