I am running a policy which successfully moves messages from the Inbox and Sent Items folders. The deleted items folder doesn't appear to be touched. A detailed report doesn't mention the deleted items at all. The settings are for messages of any size over 56 days old are to be moved to the deleted items folder. The deleted items and system cleanup folder are set to do the same to messages over 14 days old. The server is running windows 2003 enterprise, sp 2, the exchange server is also 2003 running in mixed mode (although we could make the change there are no other servers on our system). I'll be really grateful for any help.

It would be helpful if you posted the complete configuration of your policy.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Forgive my ignorance but is there an easy way to produce a complete report in text format? There are two policies applied to two different mail stores. Each is set up in essentially the same way covering inbox, sent items, deleted items and system cleanup. A typical report snippet is as follows - I should say that not all these reports give zero results, the point is that despite the settings for deleted items, that folder is never covered. Cleaning Mailbox xxx@waltonhigh.org.uk Recipient Policy: Students_only_move Folder / Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder / Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder / Done: 0 Items Processed, 0 Items Moved (0 (null)), 0 Items Deleted (0 (null)) Folder /Inbox Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Inbox Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Inbox Done: 0 Items Processed, 0 Items Moved (0 (null)), 0 Items Deleted (0 (null)) Folder /Outbox Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Outbox Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Outbox Done: 0 Items Processed, 0 Items Moved (0 (null)), 0 Items Deleted (0 (null)) Folder /Sent Items Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Sent Items Contents: 0 Items (0.00 KB) Folder /Sent Items Done: 0 Items Processed, 0 Items Moved (0 (null)), 0 Items Deleted (0 (null)) Mailbox xxx@waltonhigh.org.uk Contents (before processing): 0 Items (0.00 KB) Mailbox xxx@waltonhigh.org.uk Done: 4 Folders Processed, 0 Items Moved (0 (null)), 0 Items Deleted (0 (null)) Thanks for your interest.

Please remember that these rules fire off the modified date. Can you verify that the items are being acted on based on their modified date?Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Hi Ed Yes - I can be certain. I realised that and have left items in place for well over 14 days in the deleted items folder. We have about 1200 users but the detailed log doesn't show a single /deleted items mention anywhere. Thanks again.

Hi Again This is really odd - I think - I reset the two policies (operating on two different mailbox stores) to have exactly the same settings Delete immediately: Inbox - 56 days - any size Sent Items - 56 days - any size Deleted Items - 14 days any size System Cleanup - 14 days any size Previously the mailbox settings were different from each other. Yesterday's pass didn't touch the deleted items - this morning I ran a manual pass and now its' working. I can only apologise for taking up your time, but I'm truly puzzled. Thanks again for your interest. Jay

Hi Jay, Did you follow the steps in this KB (please navigate to More information): How to use one Mailbox Manager recipient policy to move items to the Deleted Items folder and then to delete the items KB: How to use recipient policies to control mailboxes in Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319188/en-us Frank Wang

Hi Frank Yes - I went through those exactly. One group I had left with a longer retention period in the deleted items (28 days), the other one was already set to 14 days for that folder. However, as noted above this morning it has started working fully after setting both to the same setting. Thanks for your interest Jay

You're in good company. Weird behavior with Exchange 2003 Mailbox Manager is legendary. When you upgrade to Exchange 2010, you'll find that this kind of stuff just works better.Ed Crowley MVP "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

Thanks Again! As it happens my job next week is to bring up an Exchange 2010 server which we'll eventually move over to. Here's to the future!