Mailbox Full - Unable to Delete Items

Exchange Online Mailbox Full and Recoverable Items Cleanup

Use this as a last resort when:

• Mailbox is near or at quota.
• User cannot delete messages.
• Outlook on the web says to contact Administrator.
• Deleted messages reappear.
• Emptying Deleted Items fails.

Ensure you have your Global Administrator role enabled before starting.

Section 1: Connecting

• Open Powershell as an Administrator.
• Verify that the Exchange Online management module is installed:

Get-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -ListAvailable | Sort-Object Version -Descending | Select-Object Name,Version,Path

Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser -Force -Allowclobber

OR

Update-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Force

Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName your.name@europlacer.co.uk

• Connect to IPPSSession to enable usable commands:

Connect-IPPSSession -UserPrincipalName your.name@europlacer.co.uk -EnableSearchOnlySession

$mailbox = “users.name@europlacer.co.uk”

Section 2: Status Checks

Get-Mailbox -Identity $mailbox | Format-List DisplayName, PrimarySmtpAddress, RecipientTypeDetails, RetentionPolicy, ArchiveStatus, LitigationHoldEnabled, RetentionHoldEnabled, SingleItemRecoveryEnabled, ComplianceTagHoldApplied, InPlaceHolds, DelayHoldApplied, DelayReleaseholdApplied, RecoverableItemsQuota, RecoverableItemsWarningQuota

• Look in particular to see if any of the holds are enabled or true and make a note of it. Also make a note of any non-standard retention policies (the defaults are “Default MRM Policy, or “Org-wide Retenion Policy”).
• Check total mailbox usage:

Get-EXOMailboxStatistics -Identity $mailbox | Select-Object DisplayName, TotalItemSize, ItemCount, DeletedItemCount

• Check the Recoverable Items area:

Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity $mailbox -FolderScope RecoverableItems | Sort-Object  FolderAndSubfolderSize -Descending | Select-Object Name,FolderAndSubfolderSize,ItemsInFolderAndSubFolders

• This folder is hidden in Outlook and cannot be seen from the GUI.
• Check all potential holds:

Get-Mailbox -Identity $mailbox | Format-List LitigationHoldEnabled, RetentionHoldEnabled, ComplianceTagHoldApplied, InPlaceHolds, DelayHoldApplied, DelayReleaseHoldApplied, SingleItemRecoveryEnabled

Set-Mailbox -Identity $mailbox -RetentionHoldEnabled $false

Get-Mailbox $mailbox | Select-Object DisplayName,RetentionPolicy

• It should show “Default MRM Policy”.

Section 3: Adjust Policy and Force Change

• DO NOT CLOSE POWERSHELL
• Also check within the Purview portal: Retention policies | Microsoft Purview the user will have the Org-wide Retention Policy active. Edit the policy and add their mailbox as an exception.
• Once they are an exception, create another policy within Purview, dedicated to their mailbox only, to delete everything over the preferred time frame.
• Return to the Powershell window and force the Managed Folder Assistant for the user’s mailbox:

Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity $mailbox -FullCrawl

• This will force Microsoft to force retention changes.
• Monitor the mailbox:
  

Get-EXOMailboxStatistics -Identity $mailbox | Sort-Object FolderAndSubfolderSize -Descending | Select-Object -First 20 Name,Foldertype,FolderAndSubfolderSize,ItemsInFolderAndSubfolders