Retention Policy in Microsoft 365 Backup

A data retention policy is an agreement on retaining data for operational or regulatory compliance needs.

A data retention policy is part of overall data management and plays a significant role, since defining how long a company's data is kept is crucial. Retaining data longer than needed produces unnecessary storage usage and increases storage costs.

If user data is modified or deleted during the retention period, a copy of the original content can always be found using the Microsoft 365 Backup UI.

Objects in backup storage whose retention period has expired are deleted automatically according to the retention policy settings, which keeps the backup storage size under control. The retention period can range from days to years. Objects that were created/modified before the retention period starts will be skipped during backup even if these objects were included in the backup scope. Retention policies apply to all backups for which they are configured, regardless of whether the user is enabled or disabled.

Retention policy runs automatically once a week. You can create a custom retention policy or a default retention policy that is assigned to all users without a custom retention policy. You can also assign the default retention policy to all users. If no default retention policy is assigned for some users, the backup data of these users will be stored forever.

Retention Policy and Object Lock (Immutability) Support

Support for the Object Lock (Immutability) feature depends on the assigned retention policy. If Immutability is applied along with retention policy settings, backups that are subject to the retention policy become immutable for the period specified by the retention policy. Refer to the table below for details on how it works.

Object Lock on Backup Destination	Default Retention Policy	Custom Retention Policy	RESULT	Comment
✔️	✔️	✔️	Backup locked	Unable to delete backup data until the period set by the custom retention policy expires
✔️	✔️	❌	Backup locked	Unable to delete backup data until the period set by the default retention policy expires
✔️	❌	✔️	Backup locked	Unable to delete backup data until the period set by the custom retention policy expires
✔️	❌	❌	Backup NOT locked	Backup data can be deleted
❌	✔️	✔️	Backup NOT locked	Backup data can be deleted

Create New Retention Policy

Retention policies are set per tenant and must be applied individually to users.

1. Sign in to Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace Backup as an administrator. Open the Users page, then select the users to whom you want to assign a new retention policy.
2. In the user menu, click Retention Policy.
3. In the pane to the right, click Go To List.
4. Click Create Retention Policy. The Create Retention Policy dialog appears.
5. Name the new retention policy.
6. Select the backup service to which this retention policy should be applied. You can create the retention policy for the following services:
   • Mail
   • Drive*
   • Contacts
   • Calendar
   • SharePoint*
   • Teams

*The backup storage for these services is checked once a week to see whether the retention period has expired for some of their data. If it has, the data is purged.

7. Specify the retention policy settings. There are two options to retain backed-up objects:
   • Delete Older Than. This option allows you to delete all objects that were modified or created before the specified date (day, week, month, and year periods are available). Select the period after which backed-up or modified objects will be deleted from the backup storage for the selected backup service. Select whether the last revision can be deleted. This setting is intended to keep current versions and protect data from accidental purging.

* **Purge Delay**. Set the purge delay for the regular retention policy. This setting allows you to secure your backup storage by keeping backups that are due to be deleted under a retention policy for a few more days. This setting does not affect the Object Lock (Immutability) period.

8. To temporarily disable the retention policy execution, select the Disable checkbox. The retention policy will be temporarily disabled. This does not affect other retention policies. The backup data can still be removed manually. To resume this retention policy execution, clear the Disable checkbox.
9. Click Create to save the created retention policy. This retention policy appears in the retention policy list.

Retention policy runs automatically once a week.

If Object Lock (Immutability) is allowed for the storage account used for Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace Backup, the backups created for a service with a configured regular retention policy become immutable and cannot be modified or deleted before the retention period expires.

Object Lock (Immutability) is supported by the following storage providers:

• AWS
• Wasabi
• Backblaze B2

Assign Retention Policy

1. Sign in to Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace Backup as an administrator.
2. Open the Users page, then select the users to whom the retention policy should be assigned.
3. In the user menu, click Retention Policy.
4. In the pane to the right, select a retention policy from the retention policy lists for backup services. If the backup service has no configured retention policies, the No items found text will be displayed. This means you need to create a retention policy to assign it to the backup service.
5. Once you are done with the retention policy assignment, click Save. The selected retention policies are assigned to selected users.

Configure Default Retention Policy

You can set a default retention policy across all your domains if these domains are included in the same tenant.

1. To create a default retention policy, in the Account menu to the right of the horizontal menu bar, click Retention Policies.

2. Click Default Retention Policy.
3. Select existing retention policies for the services to set them as default. This default retention policy will be applied to existing users without configured retention settings and to all new users. Users with configured retention settings will not be affected. To apply this retention policy to all users (including users with configured retention settings), select the Apply to all users checkbox.
4. Click Save.

Edit Retention Policy

1. Open the Users page, then select the users to whom the retention policy should be assigned.

2. Click Retention Policy.

3. In the pane to the right, click Go To List.

4. Click the retention policy you want to change, and select Edit Retention Policy in actions.

5. Once you are done with the retention policy parameters, click Create. The new retention policy is created.

6. Click Back to proceed with retention policy assignment.

-OR-

1. In the Account menu, click Retention Policies.
2. In the retention policy list, select the retention policy you want to edit and click Edit Retention Policy.

3. Change the retention policy settings and click Save.

Delete Retention Policy

1. In the user menu, click Retention Policies.
2. In the retention policy list, select the retention policy you want to delete and click Delete Retention Policy.

3. Confirm the deletion of the retention policy. The default retention policy will be assigned instead of the deleted one. By default, your data will be stored forever.