Recoverable Items Data Not Deleting After Clearing All Holds

Hi @Hemanth Reddy

Based on your description and the folder statistics you shared, it appears that nearly the entire 100 GB of data is currently stored in the DiscoveryHolds subfolder under Recoverable Items, while other subfolders such as Deletions, Purges, and Versions are essentially empty. 

The presence of data in the DiscoveryHolds folder indicates that the mailbox is subject to a Microsoft Purview compliance hold, such as an eDiscovery hold, In-Place Hold, retention policy, or retention label (compliance tag). 

Discovery Hold is a data protection mechanism enforced by Microsoft Purview. When a mailbox falls within the scope of any compliance hold, Exchange is required to retain the data and is not permitted to permanently delete it, even if the items were hard-deleted by the user or an admin. This restriction applies regardless of the Managed Folder Assistant execution or ELC configuration. 

Although InPlaceHolds currently shows as {} and ELC processing is enabled, there may still be hidden or lingering holds in effect (for example, retention policies, compliance labels, delay holds, or orphaned hold references). These types of holds are managed at the tenant level and do not always surface through mailbox-level PowerShell attributes, but they will continue to protect items stored in DiscoveryHolds. As a result, the Recoverable Items folder size is expected to remain unchanged. This behavior is by design to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and it is not an issue with Exchange Online or Managed Folder Assistant. 

To better address the issue and identify any remaining compliance holds, you could try to verify your tenant configuration in the Microsoft Purview portal: 

Any active or previously configured eDiscovery (Standard or Premium) cases that may still include this mailbox as a data source or custodian.

Retention policies applied to the user, either directly, through group membership, or via organization-wide scope.

Retention labels (compliance tags) that might be retaining content for a defined period or indefinitely.

These tenant-level compliance settings can continue to protect items in the DiscoveryHolds folder, even when mailbox-level holds (such as InPlaceHolds) are no longer present. 

For futher information, you can refer via: Manage holds in eDiscovery | Microsoft Learn 

I hope this helps. 

Please understand that our initial reply may not always immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. 

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The Recoverable Items folder will not purge if any hold or retention mechanism is still in effect or if the mailbox has not been fully prepared and then reverted according to the supported workflow. Use the following checks and steps, aligned with the documented process for mailboxes on hold.

1. Confirm the mailbox is eligible for deletion from Recoverable Items
   • If any of these are still applied, items will be preserved:
     • Litigation Hold
     • eDiscovery hold (case hold)
     • Retention policy (Purview Data lifecycle management)
     • Single item recovery
     • Organization‑wide retention policy
   • The article explicitly notes that if a mailbox is on hold or has single item recovery enabled, you must follow the special procedure; otherwise, items will not be purged from Recoverable Items.
   • Also verify that the mailbox is not subject to a retention policy with Preservation Lock, because such a policy cannot be removed and will block deletion.
2. Re‑check and remove all hold types (not just InPlaceHolds) Use the guidance from the “Remove all holds from the mailbox” step:
   • Litigation Hold:

          Set-Mailbox <username> -LitigationHoldEnabled $false
     

     Wait up to 240 minutes after disabling before attempting deletion.
   • Retention policies applied to the mailbox:
     • Use Get-RetentionCompliancePolicy <policy GUID> in Security & Compliance PowerShell to identify the policy.
     • In the Purview portal, go to Data lifecycle management > Retention policies, edit the policy, and remove the mailbox from the included recipients.
   • Organization‑wide retention policies:
     • Ensure the mailbox has been explicitly excluded from any org‑wide retention policy; it can take up to 24 hours for this change to take effect.
   • Before proceeding, confirm that no policy with Preservation Lock is applied to the mailbox, because that scenario is not supported for this procedure.
3. Ensure the mailbox was prepared correctly before deletion The supported workflow for mailboxes on hold requires these preparatory steps before deleting from Recoverable Items:
   1. Disable client access:

            Set-CASMailbox <username> -EwsEnabled $false -ActiveSyncEnabled $false -MAPIEnabled $false -OWAEnabled $false -ImapEnabled $false -PopEnabled $false
      

   2. Set deleted item retention to 30 days:

            Set-Mailbox <username> -RetainDeletedItemsFor 30
      

   3. Disable single item recovery:

            Set-Mailbox <username> -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $false
      

      Wait up to 240 minutes after this change.
   4. Disable the Managed Folder Assistant for the mailbox:

            Set-Mailbox <username> -ElcProcessingDisabled $true
      

   If any of these were skipped or not given time to propagate, the Recoverable Items content may be retained.
4. Use Content Search + purge to actually delete Recoverable Items content After all holds are removed and the mailbox is prepared, the data in Recoverable Items does not automatically disappear; it must be deleted using a compliance search purge:
   1. In Security & Compliance PowerShell, create a Content Search targeting the Recoverable Items subfolders using their FolderId values (for example, Purges, DiscoveryHolds):

            folderid:<Purges FolderId> OR folderid:<DiscoveryHolds FolderId>
      

   2. Run the search (Start-ComplianceSearch) and validate that it returns the items to delete.
   3. Purge the results:

            New-ComplianceSearchAction -SearchName "RecoverableItems" -Purge -PurgeType HardDelete
      

   4. Only 10 items per mailbox are deleted per purge action. To continue purging:

            Remove-ComplianceSearchAction "RecoverableItems_Purge"
      

      Then create a new purge action and repeat until the Recoverable Items content is removed.
5. Allow for background processing and re‑measure correctly
   • After purging, allow time for Exchange Online to process deletions.
   • Re‑check folder size with:

          Get-MailboxFolderStatistics -Identity <username> -FolderScope RecoverableItems | \
            Format-List Name,FolderAndSubfolderSize
     

   • Note that some subfolders (for example, SubstrateHolds) may still contain items if there are Teams or other cloud‑app holds that have not been removed.
6. Revert the mailbox to its previous state once deletion is complete After confirming that Recoverable Items has been reduced as expected:
   1. Restore the original deleted item retention period, for example:

            Set-Mailbox <username> -RetainDeletedItemsFor 14
      

   2. Re‑enable single item recovery:

            Set-Mailbox <username> -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $true
      

   3. Re‑enable client access:

            Set-CASMailbox <username> -EwsEnabled $true -ActiveSyncEnabled $true -MAPIEnabled $true -OWAEnabled $true -ImapEnabled $true -PopEnabled $true
      

   4. Reapply any required holds or retention policies.
   5. Wait 24 hours after reapplying holds before re‑enabling the Managed Folder Assistant.

If, after confirming all of the above, the DiscoveryHolds or other Recoverable Items subfolders remain at 100 GB with no reduction after multiple purge cycles, this typically indicates that some retention or hold configuration (including org‑wide or Preservation‑Locked policies) is still in effect and must be identified and removed before deletion will succeed.

References:

• Clean up or delete items from the Recoverable Items folder in Exchange Online
• Use Security & Compliance PowerShell to delete items from the Recoverable Items folder for mailboxes that aren't placed on hold or don't have single item recovery enabled
• Delete items in the Recoverable Items folder for mailboxes on hold in eDiscovery
• Step 2: Prepare the mailbox
• Step 3: Remove all holds from the mailbox
• Step 6: Revert the mailbox to its previous state
• Clean up or delete items from the Recoverable Items folder