Test runs and the delete guard

Test runs

Click Test run on Overview. ModernSync reads the groups and mailboxes and works out what it would do, but writes nothing. The result shows on Overview and under Runs:

• how many contacts go into how many mailboxes,
• how many are new, changed and removed,
• per rule, how many members are left out and why (guests, accounts without a mailbox, disabled or unlicensed, excluded),
• how many of the users’ own contacts are taken over, if you use Adopt existing contacts.

Test runs do not count towards billing. Until you switch synchronisation on, ModernSync only makes test runs. Later you can pause real runs by ticking Test runs only under Settings. The contacts already in the mailboxes are kept.

How ModernSync recognises its own contacts

Every contact ModernSync creates carries a hidden marker for the rule it came from. It updates and removes contacts with that marker and leaves every other contact in the mailbox as it is. The one exception is Adopt existing contacts: when it is on, ModernSync marks and takes over the users’ own contacts that match an employee by email address. A contact with notes, private numbers, a birthday or several email addresses is the employee’s own and is not changed. When the contacts stop, the ones taken over stay with the employee. They are deleted only when the colleague leaves.

The delete guard

You set the limit under Settings in Delete guard (%). A rule stops without changing anything if:

• the source is empty while contacts from it exist in the mailboxes,
• a mailbox would lose more than the set share of the rule’s contacts,
• more than the set share of recipients have disappeared from the recipient group, or the group is empty.

A single removal in a small mailbox does not trigger it. Test runs check the same limits, so you see a stop before anything is written.

When the delete guard has stopped a run

Overview shows that the delete guard stopped the last run. Click View runs to see which mailbox or group triggered it.

1. Check the change in Microsoft 365. A group may have been emptied or replaced by mistake. Correct the group, and the next nightly run continues as normal.
2. If the change is intended, for example because a department has closed, click Run once anyway on Overview or next to the run under Runs. The dialog uses the numbers from the run to show who loses how many contacts. Tick the box once you have checked the change, and click Run once anyway. Only the rules the guard stopped run without it, and only in that one run. From the next run the limit applies again. Runs shows who overrode the guard.

Grace period for leavers

When an employee’s account is disabled or loses its licence, the contact stays with colleagues until the grace period has passed, and is then removed. The grace period is 7 days, and you can choose 0, 14 or 30 days under Settings. If the account becomes active again within that time, nothing is removed. Overview, the test run and the run details show who is waiting and the date the contact is removed. With 0 days the contact is removed at the first run that sees the account disabled. If an account is disabled by mistake, the person then loses their contacts for everyone straight away.

Alerts

Overview lists what needs attention: mailboxes that could not be updated, recipients who are disabled or unlicensed, and deleted rules waiting to be cleaned up. Mailboxes shows the reason for each failed mailbox. We are alerted automatically when a run fails or the delete guard stops it. To get an email yourselves, switch on email alerts.