Introduction

The Microsoft Teams Yeoman generator is an amazing tool to develop applications for your Microsoft Teams, but it is not capable to work with Vuejs yet. I wanted to develop my application in Vuejs, so I created a Microsoft Teams app using Teams JavaScript SDK as I explained in my previous post. This blog is a continuation of the previous post, so please read that to get an idea of what we are going to develop in this blog post.

Background

In our last post, we developed,

1. a Microsoft Teams app with JavaScript SDK
2. an Azure Function to serve the static file as a website
3. Generate the manifest file for our Teams Application
4. Install the App in Teams

And in this post we will be doing,

1. Create a sample Vuejs application
2. Connect our Microsoft Teams application with Vuejs application, at the end both are JavaScript right?
3. Create a new Web App in the Azure portal
4. Create Build pipeline for our Vuejs application
5. Create a release pipeline for our Vuejs application

So do you like any of the point mentioned above? If yes, please stay with me till the end.

Develop Microsoft Teams App with Vuejs

Setup Vuejs and create a new project

The first thing to do is to install the Vue CLI on our machine, and you can do that by running the preceding command.

npm install -g @vue/cli

Please read the installation guides here, if you want to know it in detail. Once that is done, now is the time to create our first vuejs application using this command.

vue create hello-world

You will be asked to select your preset, I select the default one, that is (babel, eslint). In the end, you will be given a beautiful, small Vuejs application. Easy right? As the motive of this blog post is not to talk about the Vuejs application, I won’t go in detail about it.

Connect both Tab Apps and Vuejs app

The Vuejs application has a folder called Public, and this is where we paste the files of our Teams Tab App. So now your public folder should look like below.

Now open the Index.html file in the public folder and update the codes with our Tab App’s Index.html file, please remember that we are just adding some codes here, not replacing the complete HTML. Here is the complete Index.html file content.

I have explained the Tab App’s code in my previous post, so reading that is still a good idea. Now let us go see the content of the config.html file, we are going to do some changes here. As I combined both Vuejs application and out Teams Tab app to one single application I thought to create an Azure Web App to host this application, instead of doing it with an Azure Function App as we did on the first blog. So here is your config.html file.

The only change that I did is changing websiteUrl, contentUrl in the code. We will be creating this website soon, no worries. We will have to do the changes in the manifest.json file too. Here is your manifest file.

Please be noted that we have changed the configurationUrl and add our new URL to the validDomains. This step is very important.

Create a Build Pipeline for Our App

To create a build pipeline, go to your Azure DevOps and select your project, and then click on New Pipeline after clicking on the Pipelines section. You will be asked to select your repository and the pipeline configuration. As a configuration, select Node.js with Vue.

And in the section “Review your pipeline YAML” replace the content with the below codes.

Now all you have to do is to click Save and run button. You can already see that we are building our application, copying the artifacts from the dist folder to Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory and then publish it with the name www. Sounds good? So once the build is successful you should see your artifacts as preceding.

Do you remember that we placed all of our Tab App related contents in the public folder of the Vue app? The artifacts generated will have those files too. Now we need to set up our Release pipeline, but before that, we should create an Azure Web App in the Azure portal.

Create an Azure Web App

Creating an Azure Web App is really straight forward, I am sure that you will be able to create one. Click on the New Resource and then search for Web App, provide all the information in the form you get now. Once everything is filled, review, and create. That’s it. Remember to give the resource name as the name we gave in the manifest.json, config.html files.

Create a Release Pipeline for Vue App

As we already have an artifact ready, it is time to create a release pipeline. Go to the Pipelines section in your Azure DevOps and click on Releases, and then click on +New Release Pipeline. Now select the artifacts you have, and select the Task Azure Web App Deploy.

And here is how your Task should look like.

Now click Save and run a new release. And if you check the release log, if everything goes well, this is how it should be.

Now you should be able to visit your Azure web application and make sure that the index.html, config.html works fine. Because in our next step we are going to install our App in Teams.

Install the Vue Tab App

Now go to the public folder in your Vue application and select the files manifest.json, color.png, outline.png, and right click and create a Zip file. We will be uploading this Zip file in our Teams. If you are unsure how to do this, I have already explained that in our previous blog. Once after the installation, go to your Tab app and I am sure the Vuejs application will be loaded in the tab.

Conclusion

I hope this post was useful and you have learned the below things.

1. How to create a Vuejs application?
2. How to connect a JavaScript SDK Team Tab application with Vuejs app
3. How to create an Azure Web App?
4. How to create Build Pipeline for Vuejs app in Azure DevOps?
5. How to create Release Pipeline for Vuejs app in Azure DevOps?
6. How to install the new Vuejs Team Tab app in Microsoft Teams?

There is also another way of doing this with the Generator SPFX , this will help you create the SharePoint web part in Vuejs and the same can be added to the Microsoft Teams as explained in this blog. I may write about this on my next blog. Stay tuned.

Source Code

Please feel free to check out the repository here.

About the Author

I am yet another developer who is passionate about writing and video creation. I have written close to 500 blogs on my blog. And I upload videos on my YouTube channels Njan Oru Malayali and Sibeesh Passion. Please feel free to follow me.

• GitHub
• medium
• Twitter

Your turn. What do you think?

Thanks a lot for reading. Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed in this article? Could you find this post useful? Kindly do not forget to share your feedback.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Introduction

The popularity of Microsoft Teams is getting increased day by day, thus the new requirements. Do you know that we can always develop our own web apps and integrate the same to our Microsoft Teams? That is exactly what we are going to do in this blog. Let’s start then.

Background

My plan was to create a web application in Vuejs with Nodejs, and convert the same to Microsoft Team’s web application so that my Team members can use it. There is a generator that helps you create a basic application with some default functionality, but that will support only Angular and react for now (the time that I write this article).

You should also keep in mind that you will have to set up your machine before you start working with “yo generator”. The complete setup can be found here, I am just mentioning it here, even though it is not relevant to this article. So here I will create a Teams App using Javascript SDK and I will connect the same with my Vuejs application later, I will write about that in my next blog.

What we are going to do

We will be doing preceding things in this post,

1. Create an Azure function with Node Js HttpTrigger
2. Customize the Azure function to use static HTML file we upload
3. Generate the Index.html file, config.html file as per Microsoft Teams Web App standard
4. Generate the manifest file
5. Install our new Web App in Microsoft Team

Are you still with me and above mentioned points sounds interesting for you, then let’s develop something.

Create Static Website Using JavaScript SDK

Here we are going to use Microsoft Teams JavaScript client SDK to develop our application. And with the help of these SDK, we can develop a wide variety of applications, some of them are listed below.

• Tabs
• Bots
• Messaging Extensions
• Task Modules
• Webhooks and Office 365 connector

And within the Tab type, we can develop a static Tab application (The tabs that are shown in the left side of the Teams application, here the context will be same for all the users) and a configurable tab application (The tab we can add to any channel, or groups and can be configurable with logged-in users context).

Here we are going to develop a small application that just shows the logged in user email id on our home page. Just remember that this is just a starting blog and the motive of this blog is to give you a walkthrough on how you can develop and install custom apps in Microsoft Teams. To develop the application for Microsoft Teams, we need the below pages.

1. Content Page(index.html), this is the page that displayed in the Tab app
2. Configuration Page(config.html), that used to set the content page

Now open any of your favorite code editors and create two files index.html and config.html and then replace the codes.

Here we are just setting our Tab’s name and then we are calling “microsoftTeams.settings.setValidityState(true)”, at then end the Save button will be enabled for you after the validation. Please remember that you should call “microsoftTeams.initialize()” before you perform any of these tasks.

Here on our content page, we are just getting the logged-in user name and show it to a div element. As simple as that.

Static Website Using Azure Fucntion

The capabilities of an Azure Function is limitless, it is up to you for what the Azure Function can be used. Now we are going to use the Azure function to host a static website.  I hope you have already used Azure Functions, if you have not, you can read some related articles here.

Now go to your Azure portal and search for Function App and create one. Remember to select the Nodejs as runtime stack. Once the function app is deployed successfully go to the Functions tab and click on the plus icon.

From the template section, select the template HttpTrigger and then give a name for your function and set the authorization level to anonymous for now. You should see your function now and we can edit the code now. Go to your function and click on the button Code + Test.

Here is the place where you can edit your function code. Replace the codes with the below one.

Here we are loading our index.html file from the directory “myfiles” and add it as the context body so that the page will be displayed. Save the function and now we can create the folder “myfiles” and upload our pages there. To do that, go to your Azure Function and then click on Advanced Tools and click on the Goto link if it is asked. This will open a new browser tab with advanced tools. You can also visit this page by directly go to https://{yourfunctionname}.scm.azurewebsites.net/. Now click on the Debug console on the menu and then select CMD, go to the folder site -> wwwroot -> folder with the name of your function, this is where you will see the files function.json and index.js. Just click on the + (plus) icon on the top and create a new folder with the name “myfiles”. Go to the folder created and drag and drop your files there (index.html, config.html).

At this point, you should be able to see your index page, when you go to your function URL (https://yourfunctionname.azurewebsites.net/api/triggername?file=index.html), but if you go to the home page of your function by visiting https://yourfunctionname.azurewebsites.net, your index file is not loading right? We can override this by introducing a new proxy to our application.

Go to your Function App and click on the Proxies menu and then click on the +Add icon on the top. Fill the form given, your filled form should look like below.

Once the proxy is updated, go to your function home page and your index page should be loaded with the Team JavaScript SDK now, you can check this in the network tab in the browser console.

Create Manifest for Teams App

Now that our static website is ready, it is time to create a manifest for our team’s application. You can either create this manifest on your own, or you can use the tool called App Studio, here is the well-documented page which explains the features on this application. By using this tool we generate a manifest file by giving the static page files and other information. And at the end of the process, if all the validations are successful, then you will be given options to download the manifest file and install the app to any channel, or teams.

Here is the sample manifest file generated.

If you want to understand the complete structure of the manifest file, here is the link.

Install the Teams App in Teams

If you choose the option of downloading the manifest file, here is how you can install it. Click on the three-dot on the static tabs in Teams and then click on the More Apps link.

Now click on the “Upload a custom app” link at the bottom and then select your manifest zip file downloaded, it will contain the manifest.json file and other related files. Clicking on the “Add to a team” button on the next screen will start the process.

In the next screen, select the channel you want to add this Tab App, and then click on the “Setup a tab” button. Once it is installed, you should see your email if you go to your Tab Application.

Conclusion

I hope this post was useful and you have learned the below things.

1. What are Microsoft Teams Web App?
2. How to create a custom application for Microsoft Teams?
3. How to load a static website using the Azure Function?
4. What is Manifest and how to generate it using App Studio?
5. How to install the Web Apps in Microsoft Teams?

About the Author

I am yet another developer who is passionate about writing and video creation. I have written close to 500 blogs on my blog. And I upload videos on my YouTube channels Njan Oru Malayali and Sibeesh Passion. Please feel free to follow me.

• GitHub
• medium
• Twitter

Your turn. What do you think?

Thanks a lot for reading. Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed in this article? Could you find this post useful? Kindly do not forget to share your feedback. In the next post, we will see how we can connect this application to our Vuejs application.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Introduction

No doubt, Outlook and Office 365 are most widely used email application in today’s era of technology. The features provided by both of the email clients are very beneficial and provides the unique feature to its user. However, there are some problems associated with these email provider services which act as a nightmare for the users. One such issue is Office 365 calendar permissions not working. The post deals with the measures to resolve the issue. So, let us begin.

In case, the users use shared calendars in Outlook 2016 then, they will notice that all the appointments are not listed in the calendars. Or, there are chances that they have started disappearing from the list. This will cause the data loss and as the result, the user is unable to use the calendar in Office 365 account. These type of issues occur when the user opens the Outlook 2016 in any of cached modes, either with O365 or the Exchange Server.

“Does the solution to the problem seem daunting. Do not worry. We will explain why calendar permission does not work or update in Office 365. Get the best and commercial solution here- Resolve Office 365 calendar permissions.”

Explanation of Office 365 Calendar Permissions Not Working

The features of Office 365 equips the user to access the Outlook on the web. Sharing of calendars is very easy in Office 365. For example, if an admin wants to send the schedule of the meetings to be conducted in a month, he will send the calendar to the users. The problem regarding Office 365 calendar sharing permissions occurs when the cached mode of the Exchange or Office 365 is on. This clearly implies that the data is saved in the memory of the system. This is the reason due to which it does not update very easily and it takes some time. Sometimes, after clearing the cache, this problem occurs continuously. After all this, a user has no idea if the events are added or the calendars are shared or not.

Manual Approach 1

To verify the problem, a user has to log into the Outlook webmail account and check if all appointments in the shared calendar are visible or not. If they are present there, then the main cause of the issue is cache on the Outlook. Some of the steps that can be used to resolve the issue are:

• Close all the components of Microsoft like Skype for business, Outlook etc., that are running
• The next step is to open File Explorer
• In the address bar present at the top, copy and paste the following path:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Or you can open the path simply if the location of the Outlook is different on your system.

• Search for the Outlook file carrying the same name as the email account. Once you find the data file in Outlook, delete it and then, close the File Explorer
• Reopen your Outlook and wait until the Outlook resync.
• Deselect the option Use Cached Exchange Mode
• Open the Outlook and this will obtain the live data from Exchange server.

After executing the above steps, you will see that the Office 365 calendar sharing problems not working are resolved. In case, this approach fails, you can go with the second manual method.

Manual Approach 2

Go through the given steps to resolve Office 365 calendar permissions not working in Outlook:

• Launch Microsoft Outlook in your local machine
• In toolbar, navigate to File and then select Account settings as the option
• Double click on the desired Exchange account and switch to the Advanced tab
• Deselect the option Use cached Exchange mode
• Deselect the option Download shared folders
• At last, click on the option OK

This is another method for Office 365 calendar delegate permissions.

Time To Sum Up

The calendars of Office 365 need to be shared among different users. But, many times it happens that the list of appointments in the calendar is not visible. This occurs due to the cache memory in the Exchange and Office 365. The above manual techniques are explained to fixing the issue of Office 365 calendar permissions not working or not updating. But, there are some of the drawbacks of the manual workarounds. Hence, it is advised to export Office 365 calendar to PST file format so that you can use it in Microsoft Outlook. This can be done with the help of Office365Export PST tool. The data is exported safely and effectively.

Introduction

If you want to know the exact difference between Office 365 and SharePoint then, this editorial is best for you. Here you will get a reasonable contrast between both cloud services.

Many software-verses are growing and with this technical progress, users are finding a lot of overlap between various applications. Pinpointing the comparison among Office 365 and SharePoint is difficult. So, let us start by defining these terms.

What is Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is a web-based version of MS Office suite of enterprise-grade productivity services. Via this application suite, users can access their cloud-data from anywhere and anytime. Its services are delivered to users via the cloud and it includes SharePoint Online, Exchange Online for collaboration, and Lync Online for integrated communications. This cloud service eliminates the maintenance tasks like patching, infrastructure support cost. Office 365 is available in different editions such as personal, student, home, and business.

What is SharePoint

SharePoint is a web-based shared and secure space for storing the Word documents so that every team member can access the information. Enterprises use this application to create websites. This is a multi-tier web application and .NET Framework. It is just a product of Office 365 service suite that comes with multiple parts such as search, Websites, Office Web Apps, social networking etc. This is a single place for storing, viewing, and updating the pieces of information. Microsoft select SharePoint for Excel Publishing because it consists many data security features within it.

Comparison Chart of Office 365 vs SharePoint

Office 365 is Best when…

• File-based storage is required for easy operation (In this case users can use the Office 365’s OneDrive application)
• Collaborations are simple and do not require a lot of content (In this case users can use Office 365 Teams)
• Personal file administration is obligatory across devices (Use OneDrive here)
• Larger files demand to be quickly emailed (OneDrive is the best option)

SharePoint is Best When…

• Collaboration is difficult and requires a highly secured environment
• If users are working on a dedicated infrastructure
• Custom views are nessarary as metadata
• If customers are required to use data protection
• Content management needed a custom workflow
• If the internet connection does not have sufficient strength

Final Words

This write up, consist a total description of Office 365 and SharePoint. Additionally, we have described the difference between Office 365 and SharePoint. This comparison chart will extremely help users to select one application as per their business requirements and plannings.

Introduction

Unless you are completely ignorant of cloud technology, you must have heard of the term OneDrive. These days we also hear about OneDrive for Business (ODfB). Some people even use these terms synonymously, which is completely wrong. OneDrive for Business and OneDrive are two different services. It is true that these two terms are confusing as they sound almost the same. To get readers out of this confusion, this post will discuss the difference between Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. To know more about these two services, read the entire post.

Overview

First of all, we will learn the basic definitions of these two services offered by Microsoft.

OneDrive: OneDrive by Microsoft is a cloud-based storage service where users can save their files securely and share them with anyone. Earlier, it used to be known as SkyDrive. This account can be availed with an Outlook.com id or a Microsoft/Skype / Xbox Live account. Also, these files can be accessed from anywhere. This is mainly used for personal purposes and every user can decide by themselves how they want to use it.

OneDrive for Business: OneDrive for Business is also a cloud storage facility provided by Microsoft. Whatever works OneDrive does, can be done using OneDrive for Business too. This service available with Office 365 Business Plans and SharePoint. An OneDrive for Business account is managed by the organization that allows the employees to use this platform to collaboratively work and to share file with the colleagues. Using this ODfB account to save personal documents is not allowed.

So we can see that the main difference between these two products is their usage mode. While OneDrive is for personal use, OneDrive for Business is subscribed by different organizations and used mainly for business purposes. Now we will look into some other aspects that make these two services distinct from each other.

OneDrive and OneDrive for Business: Comparison between Two Cloud Facilities

• Management: If management is concerned, OneDrive is under the authority of the account holder. From what to save to how to share, everything gets controlled by the owner themselves. For OneDrive for Business, it is the organization that determines your scope of function while using OneDrive for Business.
• Storage: OneDrive offers 5 GB free storage to all its members. However, you can increase the size by subscribing to its various plans. For OneDrive for Business, it is 1 TB. Individual file size for OneDrive for Business is limited to 2 GB and total 20000 files can be synced into this. OneDrive users do not get the facility of drag and drop files to synchronize with OneDrive. However, it gets integrated with Office applications so that you can directly save your files from Office apps or open them when needed. On the contrary, SharePoint offers a location called Document Library where all documents get stored.
• Sharing: To share files stored in OneDrive or ODfB, users can generate a link that will allow anyone to access the files anonymously or share the file with email id. Moreover, ODfB users do not need to know the email address of anyone for sharing if that person belongs to the same organization. All files personally saved in ODfB by someone remain private unless the uploader decides to share it with other members. Users of both the services can see who accesses the documents. For OneDrive users, there are only two options of “Edit” and “Read” that they can select for each document. On the other hand, ODfB users can generate customized Permission levels and include them in the present list.
• Collaboration: For cloud storage users, this term means working together to achieve a common goal with minimum effort. Every collaborative work requires the work integrity to remain intact and not to have multiple copies by any means. Microsoft has provided all necessary measures to fulfill these requirements, thus making these a fantastic platform for real-time co-authoring. Both OneDrive and OneDrive for Business allow co-authoring documents in cloud. They can use Office applications to work on the same project at the same time.

Services Offered by OneDrive and OneDrive for Business

Conclusion

These are the contrast between Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. In this post, we have attempted to portray the variations between these two cloud storage services. Hopefully, users will be able to gather knowledge about OneDrive and OneDrive or Business, which will help them to choose according to their requirement if needed.

Introduction

Generally, users do not consider backing up their data. Once they start working on any specific application, they do not think about other hindrances which can come in between. What if the data in the Office 365 gets corrupted? The data present in the Office 365 can be accessed or not? So, considering all the mishappenings that can occur in the future, it is recommended to keep the backup of the data. For this, a user can use Office 365 export PST tool. PST is the desired format because PST stores its data in the offline mode. It can be accessed easily on the local system.

Office 365 is the most wanted choice because the complications involved with the product are minimum. Moreover, not even a single bit is changed after the whole export process.

Eminent Features of Office 365 Export PST Tool

The Office 365 PST Export tool offers some special features which help to backup mailbox from Office 365 to PST file format easily. These are listed as follows:

• Export Data from the O365 Exchange Online: The Office 365 Mailbox Export tool export data from Office 365 mailboxes and other components like contacts, calendars, emails and tasks. After extraction, the O365 data can be realized in different file formats and save in the local machine.
• Converts it to Different File Format: Once the data is extracted from Office 365 account, the users can restore it in different file formats like PST, EML, MSG etc. All the emails separately with the attachments can be saved under different sort of file extensions.



• An Option to Save Only Specific Data: The Office 365 Exporter enables the user to backup only some selected data instead of the whole O365 mailbox. An option to select or deselect the checkbox corresponding to any mailbox is present. It can be changed whenever the user wants to.
• Feature to Apply Date-Based Filter: There is a smart feature to export emails from Office 365 in a limited amount. In this filter, the emails along with the components falling under specific date range will only be exported. A user is required to enter the starting date and the ending date in “To” and “From” field.



• Multiple Naming Convention Choices: The Office 365 PST export tool provides a feature to name the extracted data in different file formats. Some of the formats being Subject, Subject_Date, Subject_From, Date_Subject_From, etc. In addition to this, the date can also be saved in different file types.



• Alternative to Pause or Resume: If the O365 export process is interrupted at any point, it can take over from the point it was left. There is no need to start the procedure from the beginning. As the process is taken over from the same instant, any email formatting is not altered.



• Generates The Export Report: The Office 365 export PST tool creates the live status report. The status of the migration process is also displayed. Once the procedure gets completed, the status also changes from in progress to completed. Moreover, a tick appears after successful completion of archiving process.



• Create Replicated Copies of Data: This feature is especially build up for admin of Office 365 account. He/she can access the multiple copies of the fetched data from Office 365. To save Office 365 mailboxes in PST format, an E3 license is required which is granted to the company’s domain.

System Specification Required

The following are the system specifications required for the proper working of Office 365 PST Export tool to backup Office 365 mailboxes to PST:

• Operating System: Supported by Windows 10 and other below versions
• Processor: Intel Pentium 1 GHz processor (both 32-bit and 64-bit) or equivalent
• RAM: Space of around 2GB RAM is desired
• Hard Disk Storage Space: At least, 34 MB of space is demanded for installing Office 365 Email Extractor

Terms and Conditions for Office 365 Export PST Tool

From the below-mentioned list, only one of them is required:

• Microsoft Outlook 2016/2013/2010/2007 to archive Office 365 mailboxes into PST
• MS Azure Active Directory module for PowerShell in Windows
• Assistant Setup for Microsoft Online Services

Versions Available of Office 365 Exporter

There are two different versions of the Office 365 export PST tool:

• Demo Version: It extracts Office 365 mailboxes, contacts, calendars and other items. But, it is capable to extract only 100 emails and 25 other items.
• Paid Version: There is no limitation on the number of items that can be exported and converted to other file formats like PST, MSG, and EML

Pros and Cons of Using Office 365 Export PST Tool

Advantages

• An option to apply date filter and export selective data from Office 365 to PST, EML and MSG
• Multiple naming conventions are allotted for resultant files

Disadvantages

• It is hard to believe but, I did not find any problem while using this Office 365 Mailbox Export tool.

The Final Verdict

To save the Office 365 mailboxes as PST file format, there are multiple manual techniques. But, there are some drawbacks of the workaround approach. Sometimes, the original formatting is compromised. At other times, the complete data is lost. So, to avoid any haphazard situation, it is recommended to go for the professional tool like Office 365 export PST tool. I personally feel that the utility is great and the best tool to carry out the Office 365 to PST conversion. I would like to rate it as 9.6 out of 10.

About Author

Having more than 3 years of experience in IT industry, he is expertise in many fields. Naming some of them are Exchange Server, SharePoint, Office 365 and Outlook. Ashish Ratan Singh is a professional technical blogger and he loves resolving user queries with his simple but great tips and tricks.

Introduction

In MS Office 365 suite, users can create an archive and deletion policy that converts all items to users archive mailbox and automatically deletes email from a mailbox. Users can execute this by creating the retention policy that is already assigned to each mailbox, and move selected items to a user archive mailbox during a period of time. After reaching a specific limit, it may also remove all items from an entire mailbox. Moreover, the actual rules determine what type of items is moved or deleted and when this happened known as retention tags.

All the retention tags are associated with a retention policy, which turns in is assigned to the user mailbox. The retention tag implements all retention settings to an individual message and folder in a user mailbox. It signifies how long the message will remain in a mailbox and what action to be taken when an email reaches its retention age. When the message reaches the specified retention age, it is either transferred to the user archive mailbox or it may be deleted. Check 3 best Ways to export Office 365 Online Mailbox to PST in case looking to archive mailbox locally on your system. In this article, we will discuss Office 365 archive and retention policy for mailboxes in a detailed manner.

Most Common Retention Policies to Email Messages

Go through the following steps to set up archiving and retention policy that is mentioned below:

• In an organization, you must enable the archive mailbox. This will give you an additional mailbox storage, and it is mandatory so that the retention policy can move all items to an archive mailbox. Also, it allows you to save archival information by switching items in the archive mailbox.
• Create three different custom retention tags that will execute the following points:
• a). You can automatically move old items (past 3 years) to a user archive mailbox. Moving all items to an archive mailbox to free up space in the user’s primary mailbox.
• b). You can eliminate all items automatically that are 5 years old from Deleted Items folder. This will also free up disk space in a user primary mailbox. Moreover, you will get an opportunity to recover all such items if necessary.
• c). You can automatically erase items that are 7 years old from the primary as well as archive mailbox. Due to compliance regulations, multiple organizations are required to maintain email message for a certain period of time. Once this time period expired, an organization can permanently remove items in the user’s mailbox.
• Creating the new retention policy and also you can add a new custom retention tag to it. In addition, you can also add various built-in retention tags to a new retention policy. This involves personal tags that users will assign to each item in their mailbox. You can simply add the retention tags that can transfer items from the Recoverable Items folder in a user primary mailbox to the Recoverable Items folder in the archive mailbox. This will help to free up space in the users Recoverable Items folder when all mailboxes are placed on hold. Check this blog to enable and create retention tags for Office 365 archive and deletion policy.

Know the Major Role of “Retention Hold”

This feature “Retention Hold” can contain two words that make you think you are keeping email messages. The Retention Hold feature is basically designed to place the Retention Policy on “pause” option for the mailbox. Thus, if users are gone for the extended period of time, then the Retention Policy is not going in and clean out all the emails before they were even seen. Furthermore, this does not stop a user from deleting messages because these Retention Policies do not retain emails.

Some Additional Information

The retention age limit of mailbox items is calculated from the date of creation or date of delivery for items like draft emails that are not sent but are created by the end users. If the Managed Folder Assistant processing items available in the mailbox, it will stamp a start date and the expiration date for each item that contains retention tags with both delete and allow recovery or permanently Delete retention action. Items that have the archival tags and all are stamped with a moving date.

Final Words

In the above write-up, we have already discussed all functions of retention policy for mailboxes in a proper way. Also, we have explained the major role of “retention hold” in the archive mailbox.