Items in the Drafts folder are not stamped with the retention policy tag in an Exchange Server 2010 or 2013 environment

Consider the following scenario in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 environment or in an Exchange Server 2013 environment:

• You create a retention policy tag, and you add the tag to a retention policy.
• You apply the retention policy to a user’s mailbox in which there are some email items in the Drafts folder.
• You run the Start-ManagedFolderAssistant cmdlet for the user’s mailbox. Then, items in the Drafts folder are stamped with the tag.
• You create some other email items, and you save them in the Drafts folder.
• You run the Start-ManagedFolderAssistant cmdlet again.

In this scenario, the new drafts are not stamped with the tag.

This issue occurs because the Drafts folder is only processed during the initial run after the retention policy is applied to the user’s mailbox. All folders are processed in the initial run. However, later runs of the Managed Folder Assistant only process the deltas of newly added or changed items, but skip the Drafts folder.

For Exchange Server 2010
To resolve this issue, install the following update rollup: 

For Exchange Server 2013
To resolve this issue, install the following cumulative update:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about retention tags and retention policies, go to the following Microsoft website:For more information about the Start-ManagedFolderAssistant cmdlet, go to the following Microsoft website: