Retention: Identify Errors In Microsoft 365 Retention And Retention Label Policies

By Ashwin Venugopal -

 






Introduction

Mistakes in policy can happen during  during the synchronization and distribution phases in Microsoft Purview. This step is essential for enforcing policies. The method of enforcement varies based on the specific type of policy:
  • For retention policies, the system creates rules to enforce policy settings, such as retain and delete behaviors.

  • For published label policies, enforcement means that the system makes published labels available for use in user-defined locations. Users can then manually apply the published labels.

  • For autoapply label policies, enforcement means that the system applies labels to content according to user-defined criteria. 

Policy errors can occur in both static and adaptive scope policies. 

How to Check Policy Errors?

Method 1: Use the Microsoft Purview Portal

In the Microsoft Purview Portal- 
  • Navigate to Data Lifecycle Management > Microsoft 365. For every policy listed under the Retention policies tabs, click on the policy, and then review the Status section in details pane of that policy.

  • Choose Records Management. For each policy listed on the Label policies tab, click on the policy and review the Status section in the policy details pane. 

Method 2: Use PowerShell

Use the following steps check for errors in policies that target: 

  1. Microsoft Exchange Online email
  2. Microsoft SharePoint sites
  3. Microsoft OneDrive accounts
  4. Microsoft 365 Groups
  5. Microsoft Skype for Business conversations
  6. Exchange Online public folders
  7. Microsoft Teams chat messages
  8. Teams channel messages

  • Connect to Security & Compliance PowerShell.
  • Get policy information by using the Get-RetentionCompliancePolicy cmdlet. Run the following commands-

Get-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -DistributionDetail | FL DistributionStatus
Get-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -DistributionDetail | Select -ExpandProperty DistributionResults

If there are policy errors, the value returned by the DistributionResults property contains more information about the errors. 

Following steps can be used to check for errors in policies that target:

  • Teams private channel messages
  • Microsoft Viva Engage user messages
  • Viva Engage community messages

    1. Connect to Security & Compliance PowerShell.
    2. Get policy information by using the Get-AppRetentionCompliancePolicy cmdlet. Run the following commands-
    Get-AppRetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -DistributionDetail | FL DistributionStatus
    Get-AppRetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -DistributionDetail | Select -ExpandProperty DistributionResults

    If there are policy errors, the value returned by the DistributionResults property contains more information about the errors. 

    Recommended Practices

    To minimize the retention policy errors, follow these practice:
    • If you utilize PowerShell, select the relevant cmdlets based on the type of policy and the workloads involved. Various cmdlets are suitable for different workloads.

    • Verify if the sync and distribution status of a policy is still pending before proceeding with any additional updates to the policy. If you are using the Microsoft Purview portal, examine the Status section in the details pane of the policy. If you use PowerShell, run the following command-

    Get-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Identity "<policy name>" -DistributionDetail | FL DistributionStatus

    • Combine your policy updates into a single bulk request rather than executing each policy update command one at a time. 

    Conclusion

    The errors in Microsoft 365 Retention and Retention Label Policies are identified and resolved. 




































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