Does anyone know how Group Policy settings work with Outlook .PST files????

[ChuckN]

We have a Win2K3 Enterprise server with Exchange 2K3 Enterprise.

Workstations have either Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007.

We have installed the .ADM file in Group Policy for both versions.

Is there a way to keep File retention settings from moving old files in our
Archive.PST file from being moved to the deleted folder?

Is there a way to keep Group policy Settings from controlling .PST files?

Is there any good documentation anywhere on how Group policies interact with
PST files?

Thanks

 

[Brian Tillman]

We have a Win2K3 Enterprise server with Exchange 2K3 Enterprise.

Workstations have either Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007.

We have installed the .ADM file in Group Policy for both versions.

Is there a way to keep File retention settings from moving old files
in our Archive.PST file from being moved to the deleted folder?

Retention policies in Exchange have no effect on anything in any PST, as far
as I can tell. PSTs don't contain "files". They contain Outlook items,
which are not file system objects, so Windows-based file retention policies
can't affect the data they contain either, although they could affect the
entire file. Exchange has no idea whether or not you have PSTs in your mail
profile and CANNOT move anything contained in any PST to the Deleted Items
folder.

 

[ChuckN]

I am sorry Brian. I should have said emails in PST files.

Unfortunately, if you open a PST file in Outlook, you find that it does
allow auto archive settings and is impacted by the GPO settings for Outlook.

I want to have Outlook archive older emails to an Archive.PST file, which
does work great. It keeps all of the older emails in the same folder
structure, etc. The problem is that the GPO then goes to work on the
Archive.PST file. One of the settings in the GPO File Retention Setting
requires that any email over a certain age either be archived to a new
location or moved to the deleted folder or permanently deleted. Since I
don't want to move the email from the Archive.PST file, the only remaining
option is to move the email to the deleted folder or permanently delete the
email.

This would be a great utility if only it did not control the Archive.PST
file. It seems to me someone must have thought of this and set up a way so
that the GPO does not control how email is managed in Archive.PST files.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am sorry Brian. I should have said emails in PST files.

You did.

Unfortunately, if you open a PST file in Outlook, you find that it
does allow auto archive settings and is impacted by the GPO settings
for Outlook.

You said, originally, "Is there a way to keep File retention settings from
moving old files in our
Archive.PST file from being moved to the deleted folder?". Exchange's
retention policies cannot affect PSTs because when you delete from a PST, it
doesn't go into the Exchange mailbox Deleted Items folder, it goes into the
PST's Deleted Items folder. Emptying that won't put anything into
Exchange's message retention system so that it can be recovered. Nothing
you can do in Exchange can affect the contents of a PST, as far as I can
tell. Clearly you can set up policies that affect archiving, but I don't
see what that had to do with Exchange.

I want to have Outlook archive older emails to an Archive.PST file,
which does work great. It keeps all of the older emails in the same
folder structure, etc. The problem is that the GPO then goes to work
on the Archive.PST file. One of the settings in the GPO File
Retention Setting requires that any email over a certain age either
be archived to a new location or moved to the deleted folder or
permanently deleted. Since I don't want to move the email from the
Archive.PST file, the only remaining option is to move the email to
the deleted folder or permanently delete the email.

I'm afraid I don't understand which policy you mean here.

 

[ChuckN]

You did.


You said, originally, "Is there a way to keep File retention settings from
moving old files in our
Archive.PST file from being moved to the deleted folder?". Exchange's
retention policies cannot affect PSTs because when you delete from a PST,
it doesn't go into the Exchange mailbox Deleted Items folder, it goes into
the PST's Deleted Items folder.

That is not a good thing. If it moves email from its directory structure to
its own Deleted Items folder, you end up a lot of unorganized email in the
Deleted Items Folder in the PST file.

Emptying that won't put anything into Exchange's message retention system
so that it can be recovered. Nothing you can do in Exchange can affect
the contents of a PST, as far as I can tell.

Your above statement conflicts with your earlier statement. I can ussure
you that the Outlook GPO settings for Outlook archival and file retention do
affect Outlook archival .PST files.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Your above statement conflicts with your earlier statement. I can
ussure you that the Outlook GPO settings for Outlook archival and
file retention do affect Outlook archival .PST files.

I never said that policies can't affect archiving. I said I don't see how
File Retention policies can affect anything _inside_ a PST, because a PST is
one single file. File Retention policies can certainly affect the entire
PST, but not at a finer ganularity than that.

 

[ChuckN]

I never said that policies can't affect archiving. I said I don't see how
File Retention policies can affect anything _inside_ a PST, because a PST
is one single file. File Retention policies can certainly affect the
entire PST, but not at a finer ganularity than that.

In our case, we found that the Outlook GPO settings did control how
individual email was handled within the Archive.PST. As a result, all older
email within the PST was moved to the Deleted Items folder. In all honesty,
I don't remember if it was the Mailbox folder of the PST folder. In either
case, it renders the email unmanageable.

My #1 question is, is there a way to keep the GPO settings from controlling
email within all or specific PST file(s)? If so, the GPO can be a great
tool for managing archival of email. If not, the GPO is worthless if it
eventually moves all email within the archive.PST files to a deleted items
folder based on the age of the email.

In other words, a simple tweak could make this a very useful tool.