Microsoft KB Archive/329241

= XADM: Messages Are Not Deleted and the PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME Property Is Updated After a Recipient Policy Is Applied =

PSS ID Number: 329241

Article Last Modified on 6/13/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Enterprise Server

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This article was previously published under Q329241



SYMPTOMS
When you create recipient policies in Mailbox Manager to move e-mail messages to the Deleted Items folder and to delete e-mail messages immediately after a specified period of time, you may find that the PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME property of messages is modified after a policy is applied, and some items are not deleted after the period of time that you specified.

For example, if you create one policy to move items that are older than 30 days to the Deleted Items folder, and you create another policy to delete items immediately after 60 days, you find that the PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME property is reset to the date and time when the first policy is applied. As a result, messages that are older than 30 days are moved to the Deleted Items folder, but messages are not deleted immediately after another 30 days. Messages are retained for another 60 days before they are permanently deleted.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs because the PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME property is updated to use the date and time that the message was last modified after the recipient policy is applied. This behavior is by design.

In the scenario that is described in this article, when the first policy is applied and items that are older than 30 days are moved to the Deleted Items folder, the PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME property is updated. As a result, the second policy is applied based on the date that the message was last modified, which is 60 days after the value of the updated PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME property.



WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, assign priorities to the recipient policies that you create. In the scenario that is described in this article, make sure that the policy that deletes messages immediately after 60 days (60-day rule) is set to a higher priority than the policy that moves messages that are older than 30 days to the Deleted Items folder (30-day rule). Then the 60-day rule that is assigned the higher priority is applied before the 30-day rule.

To change the priority of a recipient policy:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Exchange, and then click System Manager.
 * 2) Expand Recipients, and then expand Recipient Policies.
 * 3) In the right pane, right-click the recipient policy that you want to modify, point to All Tasks, and then do one of the following:
 * 4) * To increase the priority of the policy, click Move up.

-or-
 * 1) * To reduce the priority of the policy, click Move down.
 * 2) Quit Exchange System Manager.



MORE INFORMATION
PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME is a MAPI property that contains the date and time that an object was last modified. For additional information about message age limit properties used by Mailbox Manager, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

302804 XADM: Message Age Limit Properties Used by Mailbox Manager

For additional information about how to use recipient policies to manage mailboxes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

319188 HOW TO: Use Recipient Policies to Control Mailboxes in Exchange 2000 Server

Keywords: kbnofix kbbug KB329241

Technology: kbExchange2000EntServ kbExchange2000Search kbExchange2000Serv kbExchange2000ServSearch kbExchangeSearch

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