Email Retention Initiative
What is an email retention policy?
An email retention policy is a set of rules that determines how long emails and other mailbox items are kept before they are deleted. It helps ensure that routine emails are not retained longer than necessary while allowing important business information and university records to be preserved in appropriate systems.
Rather than relying on individual users to manually clean up old messages, the policy automatically deletes items after the established retention period.
Why is BYU-Idaho implementing an email retention policy?
Implementing an email retention policy helps BYU-Idaho manage information responsibly and reduce legal, security, and privacy risks.
Over time, employee mailboxes often contain large amounts of sensitive information such as student data, employee information, contracts, or confidential discussions. By limiting how long routine emails are kept, the university can: 1) reduce the risk of exposing sensitive information in the event of a breach, 2) support more efficient legal discovery in the event of investigations, audits, or litigation, and 3) improve email system performance and storage management.
The goal is not to remove important information, but to ensure that important records are stored in appropriate systems and unnecessary emails are routinely deleted.
What will happen once the policy goes into effect?
Once the policy is implemented for your mailbox, emails older than two years will automatically be deleted unless they have been saved elsewhere. This applies to all folders, including Inbox, Sent items, Archives, and any custom folders.
In addition, all other mailbox items such as calendar appointments, reminders, and tasks will also be subject to the retention policy.
Will this affect new emails going forward?
Yes. Once the policy is implemented for your mailbox, emails older than two years will continue to be automatically deleted unless they are saved elsewhere.
Why will email retention be implemented using a phased approach?
The email retention program will be implemented gradually to give employees time to prepare and reduce disruption.
Some employees have very large email archives that may require additional time to review and organize. By first focusing our efforts on employees who have been with the university for a shorter period or who have less emails in their inbox, the transition becomes more manageable and allows those employees with greater needs additional time to prepare.
Does this mean I cannot save emails that are older than two years?
No. Important emails can still be saved if they are needed for your work or if they qualify as a university record. Such emails simply need to be saved outside of Outlook.
Preparing for Implementation
How can I prepare for implementation?
Before implementation, employees should review their Outlook folders and determine whether any messages or attachments need to be saved for ongoing work or recordkeeping purposes. Furthermore, employees with management responsibilities should support those within their stewardship to ensure a smooth transition.
What types of emails should be saved for longer than 2 years?
Employees should be selective when saving emails for long-term retention. The goal is not to preserve all messages, but to keep emails that:
- Document important decisions or approvals
- Contain information needed for ongoing work
- Support compliance with legal, financial, or regulatory requirements
- Are otherwise required to meet record retention requirements
Routine messages or emails that are simply nice to have for ‘just in case’ scenarios should generally not be saved.
How can I identify older emails that need to be kept?
Start by thinking about the types of emails or records you are responsible for that may need to be retained (for example, approvals, decisions, contracts, or communications tied to ongoing work or compliance requirements). For ideas, you can take a look at the relevant section of the Retention Schedule <HYPERLINK> as well as browse through your emails from the past year.
Once you have identified these categories, you can use Outlook’s search tools and keywords to locate relevant emails in your mailbox.
How do I save my emails outside of Outlook?
If an email needs to be retained beyond the two-year retention period, save it to an appropriate university-approved location.
Depending on the situation, you may:
- Save the email as a PDF or Outlook message (.msg) file and upload it to OneDrive, SharePoint, or another approved records repository.
- Save any important attachments separately if they need to be retained.
- If the information already exists in another approved system, you may not need to save the email itself.
The important goal is to preserve the information in an approved location where it can be securely managed and accessed when needed. See the Video Guidelines page <hyperlink> for more details.
Where can I save my emails to?
If an email needs to be kept, it should be saved to an appropriate location such as:
- OneDrive
- SharePoint
- An approved department records system
By saving important emails and documents only within platforms that have undergone review and approval in accordance with university policies, we can ensure that the information will remain secure and accessible.
Please note that emails should NOT be saved to unapproved repositories such as personal USB/external hard drives, personal Google Drives, or personal email accounts.
Can I save emails to a .PST file within Outlook?
No. Employees should not create new PST (Personal Storage Table) files to store university emails. Microsoft no longer recommends using PST files because they are stored outside of Microsoft 365 and are difficult to govern.
If you already have one or more PST files, you may continue to access them during the transition period. However, PST files are being phased out and should not be used as a long-term storage location for university records. Employees are encouraged to move any emails that must be retained to approved Microsoft 365 locations, such as OneDrive or SharePoint.
Can I set up rules to automatically backup my emails or manually bulk transfer?
Employees should not systematically transfer, either manually or automatically, a significant number of emails to long-term storage unless there is an actual need to do so consistent with the policy. Unnecessarily saving emails in this manner undermines the policy and can significantly increase risk to the university.
Employees are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with the retention policy.
Can I use AI tools to help organize my emails?
While AI tools can help boost efficiency and provide value related to a variety of tasks, current AI tools available to university employees are limited in their ability to identify and sort emails with a high level of accuracy and consistency.
If you choose to use an AI tool to assist with mailbox cleanup and organization, you are responsible for ensuring that the tool has been approved for use at the university. [MM1] Furthermore, please note that employees utilizing an AI tool are accountable for any actions or determinations made by the tool.
Technical Questions
What if I accidentally delete an important email?
If you believe an important email was deleted unintentionally, contact the IT Service Desk as soon as possible. In some cases, recovery may be possible for a limited period of time.
Will emails that have been flagged, categorized, or moved to a custom folder also be deleted after 2 years?
Yes. All emails that exist within your Outlook mailbox will be deleted after 2 years, regardless of their location within your mailbox.
Does forwarding or replying to an email change its age?
Technically speaking, no. Once an email is created (either sent or received), it is saved in the user’s mailbox as a single email item. While forwarding or replying to an email does not impact the creation date for the initial email, doing so essentially creates another ‘copy’ of the email with a new creation date. In other words, the ‘new’ email that has been created by being forwarded/replied to will continue to exist for 2 years from its creation date – not the creation date of the original email.
Will the retention policy impact my existing email archives?
The 2-year retention policy will apply to the default Archive folder in your Outlook mailbox as well as any online archive folders. For existing archives or folders that have been created using .PST files, the retention policy will NOT be applied. For more details on .PST files, see the applicable question in this FAQ.
Will shared mailboxes be subject to the retention period?
Shared mailboxes will not be impacted during the first phase of implementation.
What should I do if Outlook crashes or freezes when transferring emails?
When working with a large number of emails at one time, Outlook may stall. Try waiting for 3-5 minutes to see if the issue resolves itself. If not, exit the application by clicking the exit button, by selecting the window and pressing Alt + F4, or by accessing the Task manager (Control + Alt + Del), right-clicking on “Microsoft Outlook”, and selecting “End Task.”
To avoid such issues, it’s recommended that you minimize the number of emails you work with at a single time.
Why is it taking so long to get results when searching my emails?
Outlook uses a process called ‘indexing’ to efficiently search through email content. If your email searches are taking a long time, it’s possible that indexing has been turned off or is incomplete.
To check, click on ‘search’ at the top, go to ‘Search Tools’, and then select ‘Indexing Status.’ [MM2]
Other
Where can I get help or learn more?
Training materials and guidance have been created to help employees prepare for the email retention program. All materials can be accessed at [URL]. If you still have questions after viewing these materials, you can contact the IT Service Desk at 208-496-9009.
Contact Us
If you have questions, please call us at (208) 496-9009 or start a Live Chat with us.
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