What is a Microsoft 365 retention policy?
A Microsoft 365 retention policy is a set of rules and settings that govern how long data is retained and when it should be deleted within an organization's Microsoft 365 environment.
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Microsoft 365 retention policies (often called Office 365 retention policies) are vital for managing content lifecycle across various Microsoft 365 services, such as Exchange Online (emails), SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams.
Retention policies help organizations comply with legal, regulatory, and business requirements by ensuring that critical information is preserved for a specified period while unnecessary data is disposed of after its usefulness has ended.
Microsoft 365 retention policy benefits
- Comply with industry regulations and various internal policies dealing with the requirements to keep content for a minimum period.
- Reduce your risk of litigation or security breaches by permanently deleting old content.
- Improve collaboration inside your organization by ensuring your users are working with up-to-date and relevant content.
Key features of Microsoft 365 retention policies
- Retention and deletion: You can configure a retention policy to retain content for a specific period, regardless of user actions.
- Scoping and application: You can apply Microsoft 365 retention policies to specific locations, user groups, or organization-wide.
- Label-based retention: Use retention labels to classify and manage individual items with specific retention settings.
- Immutable records: When a retention policy is applied, it can prevent users from deleting content until the retention period ends.
- Disposition review: A retention policy can trigger a disposition process, allowing authorized users to review and decide whether the content should be permanently deleted or retained further.
