[Powershell] Exchange 365 Mailbox Hold Troubleshooting

DISCUSSION

A common challenge in managing catch-all mailboxes involves handling substantial email volumes, often reaching thousands of messages daily. Implementing a retention policy is crucial for efficient mailbox management, and in this case, a one-week retention period is utilized.

Despite these measures, performance degradation can occur, specifically manifested by an inability to empty the “Deleted Items” folder. This issue typically surfaces after approximately one month of operation.

The root cause of this problem, and its subsequent resolution, will be detailed in this article.

CAUSE

Upon emptying the “Deleted Items” folder, emails are not immediately removed. They are transferred to a “Purge” folder. This folder undergoes scheduled cleansing. However, a rapid accumulation of items in the “Purge” folder can prevent the emptying of the “Deleted Items” folder.

SOLUTION

First, let’s check the retention policies by running this command in Exchange Online Powershell.

Get-Mailbox -Identity [email protected] | FL LitigationHoldEnabled,InplaceHolds,Compl*,Delay*,Inplace*

Let’s remove any of the retention policies applied to the mailbox. In this example, my mailbox is [email protected]

Set-Mailbox -Identity [email protected] -RemoveDelayHoldApplied

Set-Mailbox -Identity [email protected] -LitigationHoldEnabled $false