How do retention policies work with .pst files?

[kmfdm]

Hello,

I have a very strict retention policy (60 days) and I am trying to archive emails past that point. I can copy .msg files to a local fiolder, but I have no way of sorting by received date then.

If I export the emails to a local .pst file, is that file still affected by the retention policy? Meaning, is the retnetion plocy still tied to the individual email after it is exported as part of a .pst?

or will I open the .pst file 6 months form now and see all the email be removed?

Thanks...

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Retention policies are exchange server mailboxes only. But if you want mail stored on as files, you can use VBA to save them with the received date in the file name.

 

[kmfdm]

Thanks, that is very helpful. I'm going to try out that VBA tonight.

Just so I'm understanding you correctly, though - you stated that retention is exchange server mailboxes only...so if I do end up exporting to a .pst, the emails are safe and will not be affected by the retention policy, correct?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Correct. When the mail is moved to the pst, the policy does not apply - the policy feature looks only in the mailbox, it can't see what is in the pst.

 

[kmfdm]

I added the code and I can't get it to work. I tried both adding a new module and adding it to ThisOutlookSession.

I get a runtime error: "Operation Failed"

Debug points to this line: oMail.SaveAs sPath & sName, olMSG

I didn't know if the path was correct, so I then tried to set the path to "C:\Temp". The new error was "You don't have permissions to perform this action".

I checked tried this with various settings under Macro Security - no change. What am I missing here?

 

[kmfdm]

Since this is now a programming issue and the programming forums here appear to be closed, I posted the question in the Outlook MSDN forums. Hopefully I can figure it out.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Does it work if you use a different path, like my documents?

 

[kmfdm]

Thanks for the reply. I tried that as well, since the code as written (using "Documents" instead of "My Documents") didn't seem to work with WinXP.

Neither way worked.

 

[kmfdm]

I changed it to a test folder in My Documents and it worked now. Strange.

All set now...thanks for the help!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Yeah, that could be a problem since My Documents is in a different path. I'll check it on a Windows xp system.

I have to put together a winxp/2007 virtual machine, but on winxp/2010, using the code on the webpage, exactly as written but changing the sPath to
sPath = enviro & "\My Documents\"

works here. It *should* work in 2007 too.

If i use a path that does not exist, i get this:

Run-time error '-2147287037 (80030003)':

The operation failed.

In the VBA editor, press Ctrl+G to open the Immediate window. If there isn't anything shown, run the macro. The Debug.Print sPath & sName line creates this list of files, one for each selected message or for the first message, if the macro fails on the path. Does the path exist?