Sent emails will be kept indefinitely unless you apply retention labels to the emails or move the emails to a folder in your Inbox with a retention label already applied to it. You can’t change folder retention on the Sent Items or Inbox folders, just individual emails or folder retention.
For instructions on applying retention labels to individual emails see: Applying Retention Labels to Individual Email – Washington State DES
Moving Sent emails to a folder with retention
- Highlight the Sent items you’d like to move.
- Drag and drop them into the folder you want them to move to
OR
- Highlight the Sent item(s) you’d like to move
- Right click on the email(s)
- Select “Move”
4. Select the folder you want to move the items to
Alternatively, you can set up a Rule to automatically move Sent emails based on certain factors.
Applying the Retention Label before sending an email
You can also apply retention to an individual Sent email by setting the retention label before you send it.
- To change the retention policy on an email, open or highlight the message and click Assign Policy from the Tool Bar under the Message tab.
- The sent email will now display the selected retention. You may move the email to a folder or leave it in your Sent Items Folder. In the example below, the email will be deleted in 2 years.
Note: The retention policy will NOT be sent to the recipient.
To learn more about Retention Policies, click here to be directed to the Email Retention Policy Tips page.