Email Retention Policy

Be aware that effective January 18, 2017, per the University's employee email policy, emails stored in default folders will be deleted 16 months from the date when they were received, sent, or drafted.

Default folders are those folders automatically provided by your Office 365 email account. These include the Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, Clutter, Junk, and Drafts folders. Personal folders are top-level folders that you create yourself within your email client.

For information on the difference between default and top-level personal email folders, see itservices.usc.edu/how-to-default-vs-personal-email-folders/.

NOTE: Mann IT is unable to assist with migrating emails from the default to personal folders. End users must identify these specific emails and move them manually.

IMPORTANT: Emails that are automatically deleted as part of the retention policy are unrecoverable. Neither Mann IT nor USC ITS can assist with emails lost in this manner.