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Best Way to Delete a Users Archived Items

waldowilliams
Level 4
Partner

I've been asked to delete a users mailbox archived items. I was thinking of creating a Provisioning Group and assign policies to that Group to allow the user to delete their own archived data. Then after they've deleted, removed that user from the Provisioning Group and disable from archiving,

The other option I can think of.. on the other end of the spectrum, is to disabled the user from archiving and then just delete their archive. Is there a downside to this method, like cleanup afterwards?

 

 

Thanks!!

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Accepted Solutions

JesusWept3
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

i think thats really what chris was getting at.
If the user is on a legal hold or is part of a Discovery Search, then the archive cannot be deleted, you will simply get an error after it has deleted all the eligible items that aren't on hold, and each time you restart storage you will get an error showing that the user cannot be deleted.

But if you want rid of every single item, another way you could go is to export the users archive to PST and tell it to delete the item as it gets exported, then that way if you found you deleted the wrong archive or if the user had an email they really really needed or they changed their minds, you still have the PST file, then after a while you can get rid of the pst's etc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-allen-turl-07370146

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5 REPLIES 5

Chris_Warren
Level 5
Employee Accredited Certified

Usually, if you have to delete an archive outside the standard expiry process, I'd recommend just disabling them and deleting the archive.  However there are a few things to take into consideration:

a. Do you utilize Compliancy Accelerator/Discovery Accelerator (CA/DA)?

- If so, you woud want to check if this user is part of any searches and if they have any items on hold.

b. Is the user still with the company?

- If so, are they aware that their archive is going to be deleted?

Regarding if CA/DA is in the mix, this could make deleting an archive a little more complicated since items on hold will no be deleted.  If all items are not deleted from the archive, the archive will hang around in a Marked for Deletion state until the items are no longer on hold.  Also, If the archive is 'of interest', the archive can be referenced in the VaultInterest table of the EnterpriseVaultDirectory.  If it is present here, then the archive will not be deleted.

I hope this helps.

waldowilliams
Level 4
Partner

I guess I was asking if there was a problem with just deleting a mailbox archive?

JesusWept3
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

i think thats really what chris was getting at.
If the user is on a legal hold or is part of a Discovery Search, then the archive cannot be deleted, you will simply get an error after it has deleted all the eligible items that aren't on hold, and each time you restart storage you will get an error showing that the user cannot be deleted.

But if you want rid of every single item, another way you could go is to export the users archive to PST and tell it to delete the item as it gets exported, then that way if you found you deleted the wrong archive or if the user had an email they really really needed or they changed their minds, you still have the PST file, then after a while you can get rid of the pst's etc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-allen-turl-07370146

waldowilliams
Level 4
Partner

and Chris provided good info.

 

I think I should disabled the user from archiving before moving it to PST, agreed?

JesusWept3
Level 6
Partner Accredited Certified

If you don't want them to archive anything anymore then sure

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-allen-turl-07370146