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Does Microsoft provide a 'backup service' for One Drive business and Sharepoint files etc, (ie 'a copy' of your files?)

Anonymous
2022-12-29T09:08:30+00:00

I have recently taken on the global admin rights to my organizations Microsoft 365 program, and i'm trying to understand Microsoft 365 with One Drive for Business and SharePoint.

I understand Microsoft has a primary and secondary deleted files area, where you can restore files from for a short time period. What I can't find is any information for long term file recovery.

eg: Say I receive an important PDF, and save it in my One Drive folder online in Jan 2021. Then I go to open it now (Dec 2022), however I can't see it in my folder that I would have saved it in? I don't know what has happened to it, i'm assuming accidentally deleted at some point, but no idea when.... For some business documents you have to keep files for up to 7 years!

In my old IT career, the file would have been saved on the server, and then the server was backed up regularly (eg daily - to either tape or an external backup site). So if I needed to find the file, I could go through old backups until I found a copy of it, then restore that file from backup...

I've looked everywhere, but can't see any reference to this at Microsoft?, but i'm also surprised that they don't offer this service? Or if they want us to use an external provider to do it, why isn't this mentioned anywhere either?? Can anyone provide a link to any definitive answer or clarification on this for me??

Many thanks! M.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T11:46:28+00:00

    Dear Melissa,

    Good day! Thanks for posting in the community. We are happy to help you.

    According to your description, you are looking for ways to prevent important files from being accidentally deleted. If my understanding is right, Microsoft does provide a feature for this scenario. You can create a retention policy/retention label and apply them to SharePoint and OneDrive. After that, you can prevent important files from being deleted. Also, for the retention policy/retention label, you can configure retention settings for the following outcomes:

    • Retain-only: Retain content forever or for a specified period of time.
    • Delete-only: Permanently delete content after a specified period of time.
    • Retain and then delete: Retain content for a specified period of time and then permanently delete it.

    For more details, please view the following references:

    Learn about retention policies and retention labels

    Learn about retention for SharePoint and OneDrive

    If you have any updates or concerns, please feel free and come back to share with us.

    Sincerely,

    George | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T19:24:16+00:00

    That is a great help!, thanks so much. Melissa.

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