What is an email retention policy? 

Email retention settings define a period of duration until expiry when the email is deleted. The retention period begins from the date of creation (for emails you send) or the date of receipt (for emails you've received).

Retention periods for your Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts folders are set to the default Deakin retention period of two years. This cannot be modified. Emails that are two years or older will be permanently deleted.

You can set an individual retention policy on any folders that have been created by you or individual emails located within these main folders for the following periods:

  • One week
  • One month
  • Six months

If you wish to retain items for longer than two years, move them into a folder for which you have manually set a longer retention period (the maximum is seven years) as per the following instructions.

  1. In the Navigation Pane, click to highlight the mail folder that needs to be changed.
  2. On the Folder tab click Policy.
  3. From the Folder Policy list, set your desired retention policy then click OK.

Note: The mail retention policy can only be changed on folders you have created. The Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Deleted Items and Sent Items folders all have fixed policies.


Thank you!