What is default Retention policy period for M365 data like EXO and other workloads like SOP, ODB & Teams?

Question

What is default Retention policy period for M365 data like EXO and other workloads like SOP, ODB & Teams?

Vinod Survase 4,781

Aaron Tomas Hernandez 5 Reputation points

2023-08-24T19:28:39.4166667+00:00
The default retention policy period for M365 data can vary depending on the specific workload. Here are the default retention policy periods for some common M365 workloads:

Exchange Online (EXO): The default retention policy period for mailbox items in Exchange Online is 14 days. After this period, items are moved to the user's Recoverable Items folder, where they can be recovered for an additional 30 days (total of 44 days). Keep in mind that organizations can customize these retention policies to meet their specific requirements.

SharePoint Online (SPO) and OneDrive for Business (ODB): By default, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business do not have a retention policy enabled. However, organizations can implement retention policies and configure the retention period based on their needs. It's important to note that once a retention policy is applied, it may override the default retention period.

Microsoft Teams: The retention policy for Microsoft Teams varies depending on the type of data. For chat and channel messages, the default retention period is 30 days. However, organizations can create custom retention policies to retain Teams data for longer periods if required.

It's important to note that these default retention policy periods are subject to change, and organizations should always review and configure their specific retention policies based on their compliance and data retention requirements.

Accepted answer

1 additional answer

Your answer

Aaron Tomas Hernandez 5 Reputation points

2023-08-24T19:28:39.4166667+00:00

The default retention policy period for M365 data can vary depending on the specific workload. Here are the default retention policy periods for some common M365 workloads:

Exchange Online (EXO): The default retention policy period for mailbox items in Exchange Online is 14 days. After this period, items are moved to the user's Recoverable Items folder, where they can be recovered for an additional 30 days (total of 44 days). Keep in mind that organizations can customize these retention policies to meet their specific requirements.

SharePoint Online (SPO) and OneDrive for Business (ODB): By default, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business do not have a retention policy enabled. However, organizations can implement retention policies and configure the retention period based on their needs. It's important to note that once a retention policy is applied, it may override the default retention period.

Microsoft Teams: The retention policy for Microsoft Teams varies depending on the type of data. For chat and channel messages, the default retention period is 30 days. However, organizations can create custom retention policies to retain Teams data for longer periods if required.

It's important to note that these default retention policy periods are subject to change, and organizations should always review and configure their specific retention policies based on their compliance and data retention requirements.

Answer 1

Vasil Michev 119.7K MVP Volunteer Moderator

There is none, by default all data is kept indefinitely, or until a user (or admin) decided to delete it. There is no automatic deletion of any kind, unless you manually configure such.

Answer 2

Ling Zhou_MSFT 23,620 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Vinod Survase,

Thank you for posting in this community.

Thanks to Aaron Tomas Hernandez for his answer, which was very detailed. I am attaching the official documentation to his answer here so you can learn more.

1.Default Retention policy period for Exchange Online:

User's image

Reference: Exchange Online data deletion in Microsoft 365.

2.Default Retention policy period for SharePoint Online: User's image

User's image

Reference: SharePoint Online data deletion in Microsoft 365.

3.Default Retention policy period for OneDrive for Business.

User's image

Reference: OneDrive retention and deletion.

4.Default Retention policy period for Teams.

Teams' retention strategy is complex, you can refer to this article for an overview: Learn about retention for Microsoft Teams.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Vinod Survase 4,781 Reputation points

2023-08-28T15:43:11.1633333+00:00

Thanks for reply on this
Ling Zhou_MSFT
paritosh mishra 0 Reputation points

2025-01-20T19:16:20.33+00:00

don't you think after recycle bin period of 93 days there is a second stage recycle bin that will keep the item for remainder of 93 Days, after it is deleted from The recycle bin b4 93 days , and it is the first stage and second stage recycle bin's.

Share via

What is default Retention policy period for M365 data like EXO and other workloads like SOP, ODB & Teams?

1 additional answer

Your answer