Delete all emails with attachments after 60 days

Question

Delete all emails with attachments after 60 days

Philip Lherisson 0

How do I set all emails with attachments in the company to delete after 60 days. I tried to find the attachment options but could not find them. We would also like this to be automated.

Thanks

Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-03T17:18:08.4033333+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

Just checking in to see if the below answer helped. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

2 answers

Your answer

Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-03T17:18:08.4033333+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

Just checking in to see if the below answer helped. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Answer 1

Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Microsoft External Staff

@Philip Lherisson

To automate the deletion of emails with attachments after 60 days in your organization using Microsoft Purview, you can utilize Microsoft Exchange Online's Messaging Records Management (MRM) system. This involves creating a retention tag that specifically targets emails with attachments and then applying this tag through a retention policy.

Here's how you can set this up:

Create a Retention Tag for Emails with Attachments:

Access the Exchange Admin Center (https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com).

Navigate to Compliance Management > Retention Tags.

Click on New Tag and choose Applied automatically to messages with specific content.

Configure the tag with the following settings:

Name: e.g., "Delete Emails with Attachments After 60 Days".
Retention Action: Delete and Allow Recovery.
Retention Period: 60 days.
Condition: Specify that the email has attachments.

Save the retention tag.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/messaging-records-management/retention-tags-and-policies

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2154653/retention-policy-mrm-not-working

Create a Retention Policy:

In the Exchange Admin Center, go to Compliance Management > Retention Policies.

Click on New Policy.

Provide a name for the policy, such as "Attachment Deletion Policy".

Add the retention tag you created earlier to this policy.

Save the retention policy.

Reference:

Apply the Retention Policy to Mailboxes:

Still in the Exchange Admin Center, navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes.

Select the mailboxes you want this policy to apply to.

In the Bulk Edit pane, find the Retention Policy option.

Apply the newly created "Attachment Deletion Policy" to these mailboxes.

Important Considerations:

Propagation Time - It may take up to 7 days for the retention policy to be fully applied to all targeted mailboxes.

Testing - Before deploying this policy company-wide, test it on a small set of mailboxes to ensure it functions as expected.

User Communication- Inform your users about this policy to prevent unintended data loss.

By implementing this retention policy, emails with attachments will be automatically deleted after 60 days, helping manage mailbox sizes and maintain compliance with your organization's data retention policies.

For more details refer: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/messaging-records-management/retention-tags-and-policies

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2154653/retention-policy-mrm-not-working

I hope this information helps.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.

Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-04T12:47:31.0033333+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

Following up to see if the above answer helped. If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Philip Lherisson 0 Reputation points

2025-04-04T20:08:36.65+00:00

As of November 2024, Exchange Admin center no longer has compliance management and has moved to purview. Is there a way to accomplish this through Purview? Thanks
Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-07T02:34:39.6166667+00:00
@Philip Lherisson

Apologies for the confusion in my previous response. You're absolutely right — as of November 2024, the Compliance Management section in the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) has been deprecated, and the retention management features have been fully moved to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.

Yes, this can be achieved in Microsoft Purview by using retention labels and an auto-apply policy with a KQL condition that targets emails with attachments.

Steps to Implement in the New Microsoft Purview Portal:

Create a Retention Label:

Go to the Microsoft Purview portal

Navigate to: Data lifecycle management → Microsoft 365 → Retention labels

Click + Create a label

Set the following:

Retention period: 60 days

Action after retention: Delete items automatically

Complete and save the label (you'll assign it in the next step)

Reference: Create retention labels

Create an Auto-Apply Policy with Attachment Filter:

Go to: Data lifecycle management → Microsoft 365 → Auto-apply retention labels

Click + Auto-apply a label

Choose the label you created earlier

Select Exchange email as the content type

Under the condition, use the following KQL query: hasattachment:true

Choose the users or groups the policy should target

Complete and publish the policy

Reference: Apply retention labels automatically

Note: It may take up to 7 days for the policy to start applying

Only emails with attachments will be retained for 60 days, then automatically deleted

It's best to test on a small set of users first before rolling out org-wide.

I hope this information helps!
Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-08T00:52:15.4733333+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-09T01:03:22.3866667+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

Following up to see if the above suggestion was helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Philip Lherisson 0 Reputation points

2025-04-09T21:41:04.57+00:00

Is it possible to speed up the process by avoiding the 7 day initiation period and making the new policy instant?
Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-10T03:01:11.23+00:00

@Philip Lherisson - I understand your need to expedite the application of retention labels in Microsoft Purview. Unfortunately, the 7-day initiation period for auto-apply retention labels is a built-in feature of Microsoft's compliance architecture and cannot be bypassed. This delay allows Microsoft 365 to perform necessary background scans and ensure system performance and stability.

According to Microsoft's guidelines:

"If the expected labels don't appear after seven days, check the Status of the auto-apply policy by selecting it from the Label policies page in the Microsoft Purview portal."

Note: Even after the policy is active, the deletion of emails will occur based on their individual retention periods (e.g., 60 days from the date of receipt), not from the policy application date.

For detailed guidance, refer to Microsoft's documentation on automatically applying retention labels. I hope this information helps!
Philip Lherisson 0 Reputation points

2025-04-29T22:37:32.83+00:00

We are noticing that the attachments are deleting now but we would like to have these emails permanantly deleted so that it is not recoverable. It is currently still visable in the deleted items folder. Is there a way we can achieve this?
Ganesh Gurram 6,460 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-30T01:32:10.09+00:00

@Philip Lherisson

According to this MS documentation: Microsoft Docs – Create Retention Labels

If you choose the Permanently delete option, items will be deleted from the mailbox and won’t be recoverable by the user.

Yes, it is possible to ensure that emails with attachments are permanently deleted and not recoverable, rather than being moved to the Deleted Items folder. To achieve this, you will need to update the retention label’s post-retention action to “Permanently delete” instead of the default “Delete items automatically”.

This action ensures that once the 60-day retention period expires, the email (including its attachment) is completely and irreversibly removed from the mailbox—without being moved to the Deleted Items or Recoverable Items folders.

Please ensure that no mailbox holds (e.g., Litigation Hold, eDiscovery Hold) are in place, as they can prevent permanent deletion.

Hope this helps.

If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Answer 2

Hello @Philip Lherisson ,
To automate the deletion of emails with attachments after 60 days, you can create a retention policy in Microsoft Purview. This policy can be configured to target only emails with attachments and set to delete them after the specified period. You can also use PowerShell for automation if needed.
I hope this helps to answer your question.

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Delete all emails with attachments after 60 days

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