Create a Retention Policy for Archiving in M365

Create retention tags – rules for email archiving

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal with an account belonging to an eligible role group (Global Administrator, Compliance Administrator, Organization Management, etc.).

2. In the navigation menu, go to Data lifecycle management > Exchange (legacy), select the MRM Retention tags tab, and click New tag – a new retention tag wizard will open.

• Click + Add → Choose "Applied automatically to entire mailbox (default)"

• Name it something like: Move to Archive after 3 Months

• Set Retention action to: Move to Archive

• Set Retention period to: 90 days (approx. 3 months)

• Save

Create a Retention Policy

• Go to Retention Policies → Click + Add

• Name the policy: e.g., Archive after 3 Months

• Click + Add to include the retention tag you just created

• Save the policy

Apply the Policy to Users

Assign the new policy to user mailboxes:

• Go to Recipients → Mailboxes

• Select a mailbox → Under Mailbox features → Retention Policy, click View details

• Select the new policy you created

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REFERENCES

• https://www.nucleustechnologies.com/how-to/setup-archive-and-deletion-policies-for-office-365-mailboxes.html

• https://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/archive-policy-in-microsoft-365/