Learn to Identify Records and Manage Them with Retention Tags
In preparation for new storage limits coming in June 2025, OTDI has published articles that will help you take steps to reduce the number of emails and files you are storing. This article explains how to use retention tags and policies to manage folders or messages.
University Libraries is offering a class to help you learn more on Thursday, Nov. 21. Bits and Bytes: Best Practices and Practical Tips for Managing Electronic Records and Email at OSU will equip you with skills to identify which emails, texts, and chats qualify as records, apply retention and archive tags in Outlook to streamline storage, and implement retention practices across databases and shared platforms like Teams and SharePoint. Additionally, users will learn to create organized filing schemes, use standardized file naming, and access resources for further guidance.
Time for a Digital Deep Clean!
Boost your storage and streamline your inbox with retention tags—an easy way to help Ohio State manage data responsibly and efficiently. Here’s why retention matters:
1. Keep What Counts
Retention schedules ensure you save only what’s required for university records. Emails related to university business are considered records, so use tags to make sure essential messages stick around for the right amount of time.
2. Discard What Doesn’t
Not all emails are created equal! Retention tags help sort messages by importance and retention period, so you can proactively clear out messages that have outlived their purpose. Check out University Libraries’ guides for tips on managing emails effectively.
3. Cut Down on Clutter & Costs
Following retention policies reduces your storage footprint and opens up space for messages you actually need. Plus, trimming down storage can save the university money and reduce our carbon footprint—a win-win!
Ready to start? Make a habit of tagging, and keep your inbox clean, green, and efficient!
How to Use Retention Tags
University Libraries maintain both a General Retention Schedule and a Unique Retention Schedules that contains record series that are unique to a particular unit’s operations.
Microsoft Outlook enables you to use Default Retention Tags, Retention Policy Tags, and Personal tags to adhere to university retention recommendations for email records. Based on Ohio State’s retention policies, the university has set up several recommended tags in Outlook for you to use: 1 month, 1 week, 1 year, 10 years, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 6 months, 6 years, and “never delete.”
Retention tags can be used with archiving, which we discussed in a previous article. We have posted how-to articles in the Administrative Resource Center so you can learn to use retention tags in the Outlook Web App, in Outlook for Windows and in Outlook for Mac. These articles also provide instructions for using your online archive in of these apps.
While retention tags can be applied to individual emails, they work most efficiently when applied at the folder level using a functional filing structure. By doing this, retention tags can be applied to a high-level parent folder and is then inherited by the child folders. When you set a retention tag, the retention period for the tag begins based on the date of the email. Tags work best with retention periods beginning with a specific Creation Date (CR) or records that are transient. For retention periods that begin with ACT, which stands for “active,” it might be necessary to increase retention time by a year or two on the retention label to ensure you wait long enough for the active period and the retention period to expire.
To ensure we are adhering to legal retention guidelines, using storage responsibly, and coming in under required storage limits, we need to consider our storag now, and keep only messages that we need for current university business.