Fix: can’t delete OWA mailbox or calendar items

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Microsoft’s email and calendar services are very reliable, helping millions of users to organize their professional life. Since Outlook and Calendar are very important tools, any bugs affecting them needs to be solved as soon as possible.

OWA users often can’t delete items from their mailbox, be it emails or calendar items. When this happens, an error message appears on the screen, informing users about the cause of the bug:

Of course, there are many other error messages that can appear on the screen, apart from the two listed above. Fortunately, there’s a quick workaround you can use to solve this problem.

Fix: OWA email and calendar items won’t delete

1.Check if the mailbox is placed onLitigation Holdor is part of anIn-Place Hold Search. In this case, the deleted items areput on holdand are not purged from the mailbox.

Get-Mailbox <affected_user’s_mailbox> |FL Name,LitigationHoldEnabled,LitigationHoldDate,LitigationHoldOwner,LitigationHoldDuration,InPlaceHolds

2.Check inPowerShellif theTotalDeletedItemSizeis near or has reached the maximum amout of100 GB.Get-MailboxStatistics <affected user’s mailbox> | FL Name,DeletedItemCount,ItemCount,TotalDeletedItemSize,TotalItemSize

InExchange Online, there is a soft limit of20 GBand a hard limit of30 GBfor theRecoverable Itemsquota. The quota for theRecoverable Itemsfolder is automatically increased to90 GBand100 GB, respectively, when a mailbox is placed onLitigation HoldorIn-Place Hold. Then all items are held indefinitely or until the holds are removed.In-Place HoldandLitigation Holduses theRecoverable Itemsfolder to preserve items.

3.Remove HOLDfrom the mailbox and delete unnecessary items. Microsoft recommends to use this method with care because the mailbox items were put on Hold for a reason. This option will purge the deleted emails and valuable data will be lost.

4.Enable online archive. In this manner, the old emails will be moved automatically from the mailbox to the archive.

For more information about the connection betweenLitigation Holdand OWA emails, check out thelatest Microsoft TechNet post.

Fix: can’t delete OWA mailbox or calendar items#

Fix: OWA email and calendar items won’t delete#

Fix: can’t delete OWA mailbox or calendar items

Fix: OWA email and calendar items won’t delete