Last Updated on August 12, 2022 by rabiamuzaffar
With millions of users, many are still curious about how the Microsoft Office 365 backup and recovery policy works. Indeed, Microsoft cannot store all of its user’s data forever. However, it can reduce the probability of infinite Office 365 data loss through Office 365 backup and recovery policies.
Office 365 Backup and Recovery Policy
Office 365 backup and recovery policies determine your data status. Determining data status means that the policy establishes the conditions for your data to be retained and restored. Hence, in data loss, Microsoft first determines who is responsible for the action.
The error can be on Microsoft’s part, making it easier to cover with the Office 365 backup policy. If it’s a human error, and you’re unaware of it, there are chances that it cannot protect against permanent deletion. This is a great reminder to protect your data against cyberattacks, malware, etc. In its service agreement, Microsoft also advised backing up your 365 data because of ‘occasional disrupts and outages,’ to which they may not be liable.
You may want to avoid the following conditions to allow your policy to work as intended:
- Human error (accidentally deleted data of utmost importance)
- An unauthorized user deletes data
- Software errors on the user’s side
- Malware, hacker attacks
- Intentionally deleting data/intentional malicious action
- Unaware of your Office 365 plan expiry
- And more
In Office 365 backup policy, administrators may configure how long you can retain or restore specific data after deletion. The policy can only keep deleted or lost items at a particular time. All deleted items go to the deleted items folder. Then, these files go to the recoverable items folder once deleted from the deleted items folder.
Restoring these data is done through understanding the Office 365 retention policy.
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Office 365 Retention Policy
Each Office 365 service has a retention policy setting and is the primary setting in the Office 365 Backup policy. This determines the amount of time deleted items are kept and restored. The policy either retains or deletes items based on the retention period. However, it can be used and modified as needed.
Retention Policy Settings
SharePoint Online.
SharePoint Online backs up data every 12 hours and retains it for 14 days. Deleted items under this setting are in the Recycle Bin for 93 days. After this period, the system can delete data permanently.
Exchange Online.
In Exchange Online, deleted mailboxes get retained or kept for 30 days by default. Meanwhile, you can recover individually deleted items for up to 14 days, still by default. You can, however, manually extend this period up to 30 days.
OneDrive.
OneDrive allows a 30-day default retention period policy. You can recover or retrieve deleted items from accounts for up to 30 days after deletion. Remember that admins can change this setting in the OneDrive storage setting.
Outlook 365 deleted items in the Recoverable Items folder can be retained for up to 14 days by default. However, Microsoft Office 365’s global administrator with eDiscovery permissions can only retrieve these recoverable items.
This backup and restore Microsoft 365 retention policies can be applied to these Office 365 applications and objects:
- Team chats
- Exchanges email
- Microsoft 365 groups
- Team channel messages
- Skype of business
- OneDrive accounts
- SharePoint site
- Exchanges public folders
Also, the policy describes data deletion using active and passive terms. Active deletion is when the user or admin deletes data. Passive deletion, on the other hand, passive deletion is data deleted through the subscription end.
The policy can store Active deletion of customer content and End Pseudonymous User Identifiers for up to 30 days. However, active deletion of End User Identifiable Information can be stored much longer for up to 100 days. Meanwhile, the policy can store data under passive deletion cases for up to 180 days.
These are the essential details about the Microsoft Office 365 backup and recovery policies. However, they can change it since Microsoft continually works on improving its services to further increase users’ business productivity through data safety and protection. In addition, the number of people using Microsoft Office 365 and its services continues to rise. Hence, Microsoft encourages continually reading and reviewing the policy and the established conditions.
As you work on the document or file, it’s a good practice to have a reliable tool to backup and restore your Microsoft 365 data like the ones from Simeon Cloud to avoid catastrophes when sudden and unforeseen changes happen. Explore your backup options today.
