If you ever tried placing a mailbox on Litigation Hold using the EAC or the Shell, both the interfaces displayed an alert message with a recommendation to switch to the new In-Place Hold feature. This recommendation was also reflected in the product documentation.
However, according to Microsoft itself, it does not plan to remove Litigation Hold from Exchange Online or Exchange 2013 and this alert has been removed from Exchange Online and Exchange 2013 SP1. The recommendation from Exchange Online and Exchange 2013 documentation has also been removed.
So which feature should I use?! You can use either hold features to preserve mailbox data in Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online, based on your preservation needs. Here are some scenarios to help you choose between the two holds:
You can use either hold feature to preserve mailbox data in Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online, based on your preservation needs. Here are some scenarios to help you choose between the two holds.
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You want to…
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Use Litigation Hold
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Use In-Place Hold
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Preserve all items in a mailbox
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Yes
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Yes.
To preserve all items, don’t specify any query parameters.
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Preserve all items in a mailbox for a specific duration
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Yes.
Specify the LitigationHoldDuration parameter for the mailbox using the Shell.
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Yes.
Create a time-based In-Place Hold. Specify the duration in the In-Place Hold settings in EAC or ItemHoldDuration parameter from the Shell.
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Preserve items matching query parameters
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No.
Litigation Hold preserves all items.
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Yes.
Create a query-based In-Place Hold. Specify query parameters such as start date, end date, sender, recipients and keywords.
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Specify types of items to preserve (such as e-mail, calendar, notes)
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No.
Litigation Hold preserves all items.
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Yes.
You can use the EAC or the MessageTypes parameter from the Shell.
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Specify hold settings for members of a distribution group
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Yes.
Use the Get-DistributionGroupMembercmdlet in the Shell to pipe distribution group members to the Set-Mailbox cmdlet.1
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Yes.
Easily specify distribution groups in the In-Place eDiscovery and Hold wizard in the EAC or in the SourceMailboxes parameter in the Shell. 2
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Max users on hold
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No.
Litigation Hold is a mailbox parameter. No maximum limits apply. You can use the Shell to quickly place all users in an organization on hold.
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You can specify a maximum of 5000 users per In-Place Hold object. To place additional users on hold, you must create another hold.
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Place multiple holds on a mailbox
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No
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Yes.
You can place a user on multiple In-Place Holds, for example when a user is subject to multiple investigations or legal cases.
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Make mailboxes inactive to preserve data in Exchange Online
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Yes
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Yes
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1 Distribution group is expanded when you run the command. Future changes to the group require running the command again.
2 Distribution groups are expanded only when you create or refresh the In-Place Hold. Future changes to the group require refreshing the search object.
