Managing templates

You can create templates for Shared Mailboxes, Room Mailboxes, Equipment Mailboxes and Distribution Lists. Some features vary depending on the resource type but the following management operations apply to all templates.

Create and modify a Template

You can use the Create a Template button to create a new template.

After creating a new template or clicking on an existing one, the Card section allows you to specify a title, description, and color for your template. You can use the language controls to translate the template text for your users depending on their configured language settings. If no language is specified for the template, it falls back to the default language.

Templates can be limited to a subset of users, for example when you want to limit a template to a specific department in your organization. You can limit the template by specifying a Security Group in the audience field. Only members of the selected Security Group will see the template in their EasyLife 365 Mail App.

Templates must be active before they can be used in the EasyLife 365 Mail App. This is configured using the Active field on this tab.

Retention Policy

In addition to EasyLife policies, you can assign Microsoft Purview retention policies to mailbox templates. Retention policies define how long emails and other items in mailboxes are retained before they are automatically deleted or archived.

To assign a a retention policy to a template follow the following steps:

1. Go to the Templates section.
2. Select or create a mailbox template.
3. In the Policies tab, locate the Retention Policies dropdown.
4. Select the desired retention policy from the dropdown.
5. Select Save to update the template.

The selected retention policy will be applied to all mailboxes provisioned using this template going forward.

note

If no retention policy is specified in the template, no retention policy will be set on the mailbox. Exchange will apply the Default MRM Policy if configured.

Duplicating a Template

EasyLife 365 Mail provides an option to duplicate an existing template by using the buttons on the card from the template overview.

Deleting a Template

EasyLife 365 Mail provides an option to delete an existing template.

Templates contain the definition of metadata collection for your resources. Deleting a template does not delete the resources created from that template and it also does not delete the metadata collected. However, end-users will not be able to modify the metadata after the template has been deleted.

warning

The deletion of a template is a permanent operation and cannot be undone.

Policies

The Policies section defines which policy should be applied once a new resource is provisioned.

To attach a policy to a template:

1. Open the template and select the Policies tab.
2. Under Lifecycle management, choose a policy from the dropdown. Only policies that target this template's resource type are offered. No policy leaves the resource without one.
3. Select Save.

The tab shows a summary of the selected policy's rules below the dropdown. Use Edit in that summary's toolbar to open the policy, change it, and return to the template.

If the policy you need does not exist yet, select Create in the page header. The template is suspended with everything you have typed so far, and a new policy for this template's resource type opens. Save it and you return to the Policies tab with your edits intact and the new policy already selected. Select Save to save the template.

note

If no policy is specified, the EasyLife 365 Mail Engine will not apply a policy to the resource except if you define a default policy.

The Approvals tab works the same way, including the inline Create button. See Approvals.