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Learn near retentivity policies and retention labels

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• 04/11/2022
• 36 minutes to read

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In this article

Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance.

Note

If you're seeing messages almost memory policies in Teams or have questions nigh retention labels in your apps, contact your IT section for information about how they have been configured for you lot. In the meantime, you might find the post-obit articles helpful:

• Teams messages almost retentivity policies
• Apply retentiveness labels to files in SharePoint or OneDrive

The information on this page is for Information technology administrators who can create retentiveness policies and retention labels for compliance reasons.

For almost organizations, the book and complexity of their data is increasing daily—email, documents, instant messages, and more than. Finer managing or governing this information is important because y'all need to:

• Comply proactively with industry regulations and internal policies that crave you to retain content for a minimum period of time—for case, the Sarbanes-Oxley Deed might require you to retain certain types of content for vii years.

• Reduce your risk in the event of litigation or a security alienation by permanently deleting old content that you're no longer required to go along.

• Help your organization to share cognition effectively and be more than agile by ensuring that your users work but with content that'southward electric current and relevant to them.

Retentiveness settings that you configure can assistance you achieve these goals. Managing content commonly requires two deportment:

Action	Purpose
Retain content	Preclude permanent deletion and remain available for eDiscovery
Delete content	Permanently delete content from your system

With these two retention deportment, yous can configure retention settings for the post-obit outcomes:

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

These retention settings work with content in identify that saves you the additional overheads of creating and configuring additional storage when you need to retain content for compliance reasons. In addition, you don't need to implement customized processes to copy and synchronize this data.

Employ the following sections to learn more than most how retention policies and retention labels work, when to use them, and how they supplement each other. Simply if you're ready to get started and deploy retentivity settings for some mutual scenarios, come across Get started with information governance.

How retentivity settings work with content in place

When content has retention settings assigned to information technology, that content remains in its original location. Most of the time, people keep to work with their documents or mail every bit if zippo'due south changed. But if they edit or delete content that's included in the retention policy, a copy of the content is automatically retained.

• For SharePoint and OneDrive sites: The copy is retained in the Preservation Hold library.

• For Exchange mailboxes: The copy is retained in the Recoverable Items binder.

• For Teams and Yammer letters: The copy is retained in a subconscious folder named SubstrateHolds every bit a subfolder in the Exchange Recoverable Items binder.

Note

Because the Preservation Hold library is included in the site's storage quota, you might demand to increase your storage when you use retention settings for SharePoint and Microsoft 365 groups.

These secure locations and the retained content are not visible to most people. In most cases, people do not fifty-fifty need to know that their content is subject to retentiveness settings.

For more detailed data about how retention settings piece of work for different workloads, come across the following articles:

• Larn about retention for SharePoint and OneDrive
• Learn about retention for Microsoft Teams
• Learn about memory for Yammer
• Larn about retentivity for Commutation

Retention policies and retentiveness labels

To assign your retention settings to content, utilise retention policies and memory labels with label policies. You can use just one of these methods, or combine them.

Employ a retentivity policy to assign the aforementioned retentivity settings for content at a site or mailbox level, and use a memory label to assign retentivity settings at an detail level (folder, document, electronic mail).

For example, if all documents in a SharePoint site should be retained for 5 years, it's more efficient to do this with a retentiveness policy than utilize the aforementioned retention characterization to all documents in that site. All the same, if some documents in that site should be retained for v years and others retained for x years, a retentivity policy wouldn't be able to practise this. When you need to specify retention settings at the item level, employ retentivity labels.

Unlike retention policies, retention settings from retention labels travel with the content if it'south moved to a different location within your Microsoft 365 tenant. In add-on, retention labels have the following capabilities that retentivity policies don't back up:

• Options to start the memory menses from when the content was labeled or based on an result, in addition to the age of the content or when it was last modified.

• Use trainable classifiers to identify content to label.

• Utilize a default label for SharePoint documents.

• Support disposition review to review the content before it's permanently deleted.

• Mark the content as a tape every bit part of the label settings, and e'er have proof of disposition when content is deleted at the terminate of its memory period.

Retention policies

Retention policies tin can be applied to the following locations:

• Exchange email
• SharePoint site
• OneDrive accounts
• Microsoft 365 Groups
• Skype for Business
• Exchange public folders
• Teams aqueduct messages
• Teams chats
• Teams individual channel letters
• Yammer community letters
• Yammer user letters

Notation

Teams channel messages now include shared channels (currently in preview) too as standard channels.

Yous can very efficiently use a single policy to multiple locations, or to specific locations or users.

For the start of the retention period, you tin cull when the content was created or, supported only for files and the SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 Groups locations, when the content was last modified.

Items inherit the retention settings from their container specified in the memory policy. If they are then moved outside that container when the policy is configured to retain content, a copy of that item is retained in the workload'southward secured location. Even so, the retention settings don't travel with the content in its new location. If that's required, use retentivity labels instead of retentivity policies.

Retention labels

Use retentiveness labels for dissimilar types of content that require unlike retention settings. For instance:

• Tax forms that need to be retained for a minimum menstruum of time.

• Press materials that demand to exist permanently deleted when they achieve a specific historic period.

• Competitive inquiry that needs to exist retained for a specific period so permanently deleted.

• Piece of work visas that must be marked every bit a record then that they tin can't be edited or deleted.

In all these cases, memory labels permit yous apply memory settings for governance control at the item level (document or electronic mail).

With retentivity labels, you lot tin can:

• Enable people in your system to apply a retentivity label manually to content in Outlook and Outlook on the web, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365 groups. Users often know best what type of content they're working with, so they can allocate it and have the advisable retention settings applied.

• Apply retentiveness labels to content automatically if it matches specific conditions, that include cloud attachments that are shared in email or Teams, or when the content contains:

  • Specific types of sensitive data.
  • Specific keywords that friction match a query you create.
  • Pattern matches for a trainable classifier.

• Start the retention period from when the content was labeled for documents in SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts, and for email items.

• Start the retentiveness period when an issue occurs, such as employees get out the organization, or contracts expire.

• Utilise a default retention label to a document library, folder, or document set in SharePoint, so that all documents that are stored in that location inherit the default retention label.

• Marking items as a record equally part of your records direction strategy. When this labeled content remains in Microsoft 365, further restrictions are placed on the content that might be needed for regulatory reasons. For more information, run into Compare restrictions for what actions are allowed or blocked.

Retentivity labels, unlike sensitivity labels, practise not persist if the content is moved outside Microsoft 365.

Classifying content without applying any actions

Although the chief purpose of memory labels is to retain or delete content, yous tin can also use retention labels without turning on any retention or other actions. In this case, yous can apply a retention label simply as a text label, without enforcing any actions.

For instance, you can create and apply a retention label named "Review later" with no actions, and so employ that characterization to find that content later.

Using a retentivity label as a condition in a DLP policy

You can specify a retention characterization every bit a condition in a data loss prevention (DLP) policy for documents in SharePoint. For example, configure a DLP policy to forbid documents from beingness shared outside the system if they take a specified retention label practical to it.

For more information, meet Using a retention label equally a condition in a DLP policy.

Memory labels and policies that apply them

When you lot publish retention labels, they're included in a retention label policy that makes them bachelor for admins and users to apply to content. As the following diagram shows:

1. A unmarried retentiveness label can be included in multiple memory label policies.

2. Retentiveness label policies specify the locations to publish the retention labels. The same location can exist included in multiple retention label policies.

You can as well create ane or more than auto-employ retention label policies, each with a single retention label. With this policy, a retentiveness label is automatically applied when conditions that y'all specify in the policy are met.

Retention label policies and locations

Memory labels tin be published to different locations, depending on what the retention label does.

If the retention label is...	And so the label policy can be practical to...
Published to admins and stop users	Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft 365 Groups
Car-applied based on sensitive information types or trainable classifiers	Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive
Motorcar-applied based on keywords or a query	Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft 365 Groups
Automobile-applied to cloud attachments	SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft 365 Groups

Exchange public folders, Skype, Teams and Yammer messages practise not support retentiveness labels. To retain and delete content from these locations, use retention policies instead.

But one retention label at a time

An email or document tin accept only a single retention label applied to it at a time. A retention label can be applied manually past an end user or admin, or automatically by using any of the following methods:

• Motorcar-utilise label policy
• Document agreement model for SharePoint Syntex
• Default label for SharePoint or Outlook
• Outlook rules

For standard retention labels (they don't mark items as a record or regulatory tape):

• Admins and end users can manually alter or remove an existing retention label that's applied on content.

• When content already has a retention label applied, the existing label won't be automatically removed or replaced by another retention label with one possible exception: The existing label was applied as a default label. When you use a default label, there are some scenarios when it can exist replaced by another default label, or automatically removed.

  For more information most the label behavior when it's applied by using a default characterization:

  • Default label for SharePoint: Label behavior when you use a default label for SharePoint
  • Default label for Outlook: Applying a default retentivity label to an Outlook folder

• If there are multiple auto-utilize label policies that could apply a retention label, and content meets the conditions of multiple policies, the retention label for the oldest auto-apply label policy (by date created) is applied.

When retention labels mark items as a record or a regulatory record, these labels are never automatically inverse. Only admins for the container can manually alter or remove retention labels that mark items every bit a record, but not regulatory records. For more data, see Compare restrictions for what actions are allowed or blocked.

Monitoring memory labels

From the Microsoft 365 compliance center, select Data classification and the Overview page to monitor how your retentiveness labels are being used in your tenant, and identify where your labeled items are located. For more than data, including important prerequisites, run into Learn about data classification.

You can and so drill down into details past using content explorer and activeness explorer.

Tip

Consider using some of the other information classification insights, such as trainable classifiers and sensitive info types, to aid you identify content that yous might need to retain or delete, or manage as records.

Using Content Search to detect all content with a specific retention characterization

Later retention labels are applied to content, either past users or motorcar-applied, you lot can use content search to find all items that take a specific retention label applied.

When y'all create a content search, cull the Retention label condition, and so enter the complete memory label name or function of the label proper noun and use a wildcard. For more information, see Keyword queries and search weather condition for Content Search.

Compare capabilities for retentivity policies and retention labels

Utilize the following table to help yous identify whether to utilise a retentiveness policy or retention characterization, based on capabilities.

Capability	Retention policy	Retention label
Memory settings that can retain and then delete, retain-only, or delete-simply	Yeah	Yep
Workloads supported: - Exchange - SharePoint - OneDrive - Microsoft 365 groups - Skype for Business organisation - Teams - Yammer	Yeah Yes Aye Yes Aye Yes Yes	Yes, except public folders Yes Yes Yes No No No
Retentiveness applied automatically	Yes	Aye
Retention applied based on conditions - sensitive info types, KQL queries and keywords, trainable classifiers, cloud attachments	No	Yes
Retentivity practical manually	No	Yeah
End-user interaction	No	Yes
Persists if the content is moved	No	Yes, within your Microsoft 365 tenant
Declare particular equally a record	No	Yes
Start the retention menses when labeled or based on an event	No	Yep
Disposition review	No	Aye
Proof of disposition for up to 7 years	No	Yes, when yous use disposition review or particular is marked a record
Inspect admin activities	Yes	Aye
Audit retentivity actions	No	Yeah *
Identify items subject field to retention: - Content Search - Data classification page, content explorer, activity explorer	No No	Yes Yes

Footnote:

^* For retention labels that don't marking the content as a tape or regulatory record, auditing events are express to when an item in SharePoint or OneDrive has a label applied, inverse, or removed. For auditing details for retention labels, run into the Auditing retention actions department on this page.

Combining retentiveness policies and retention labels

You don't accept to choose betwixt using retention policies merely or retentivity labels only. Both methods can be used together and in fact, complementary each other for a more comprehensive solution.

The following examples are just some of the means in which you can combine retention policies and retention labels for the same location.

For more than information nigh how retentivity policies and retention labels piece of work together and how to determine their combined outcome, run into the section on this page that explains the principles of memory and what takes precedence.

Case for users to override automatic deletion

Scenario: By default, content in users' OneDrive accounts is automatically deleted after v years only users must accept the selection to override this for specific documents.

1. Y'all create and configure a retention policy that automatically deletes content v years after it'southward last modified, and utilize the policy to all OneDrive accounts.

2. You create and configure a retentivity label that keeps content forever and add this to a characterization policy that you publish to all OneDrive accounts. Yous explicate to users how to manually apply this label to specific documents that should be excluded from automatic deletion if not modified after five years.

Example to retain items for longer

Scenario: By default, SharePoint items are automatically retained and then deleted after five years, merely documents in specific libraries must exist retained for ten years.

1. Y'all create and configure a retentiveness policy that automatically retains and then deletes content after five years, and apply the policy to all SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Groups instances.

2. You create and configure a retentiveness characterization that automatically retains content for ten years. You publish this label to SharePoint site admins, and so that they tin apply it every bit a default characterization to exist inherited past all items in specific certificate libraries.

Example to delete items in a shorter time menstruum

Scenario: Past default, emails aren't retained but are automatically deleted after 10 years. However, emails related to a specific project that has a prerelease code proper noun must be automatically deleted after ane yr.

1. You create and configure a retentiveness policy that automatically deletes content subsequently ten years, and use the policy to all Substitution recipients.

2. Y'all create and configure a memory characterization that automatically deletes content after one year. Options for applying this label to relevant emails include:

   • Y'all create an motorcar-labeling policy that identifies content by using the project code name as the keyword, and apply the policy to all Commutation recipients
   • You publish the label and instruct users involved in the projection how to create an automatic rule in Outlook that applies this label
   • Yous publish the label and instruct users to create a folder in Outlook for all emails related to the projection and they utilise the published label to the folder, and then create an Outlook rule to motion all projection-related emails to this folder

How long information technology takes for retentiveness settings to apply

When you submit retention policies for workloads and label policies to automatically apply a retention label, allow upwards to seven days for the retentivity settings to be applied to content:

• How long it takes for retention policies to have effect
• How long it takes for retention labels to take issue

Similarly, permit upward to 7 days for retention labels to be visible in apps after you publish the labels:

• When retention labels get available to apply

Often, the policies will take consequence and labels will exist visible quicker than 7 days. Merely with many potential variables that can touch this process, information technology's all-time to program for the maximum of vii days.

Adaptive or static policy scopes for memory

When you lot create a memory policy or memory characterization policy, you must choose between adaptive and static to define the scope of the policy.

• An adaptive scope uses a query that you specify, then the membership isn't static but dynamic past running daily against the attributes or backdrop that you specify for the selected locations. You can employ multiple adaptive scopes with a single policy.

  Example: Emails and OneDrive documents for executives require a longer retention period than standard users. You create a retention policy with an adaptive telescopic that uses the Azure AD aspect task title of "Executive", and so select the Commutation electronic mail and OneDrive accounts locations for the policy. In that location'southward no need to specify e-mail addresses or OneDrive URLs for these users because the adaptive scope automatically retrieves these values. For new executives, at that place'south no demand to reconfigure the memory policy considering these new users with their corresponding values for email and OneDrive are automatically picked up.

• A static scope doesn't use queries and is express in configuration in that information technology can apply to all instances for a specified location, or employ inclusion and exclusions for specific instances for that location. These 3 choices are sometimes referred to every bit "org-broad", "includes", and "excludes" respectively.

  Example: Emails and OneDrive documents for executives require a longer retention period than standard users. You lot create a memory policy with a static scope that selects the Exchange e-mail and OneDrive accounts locations for the policy. For the Exchange electronic mail location, y'all're able to place a group that contains but the executives, and so you specify this group for the retention policy, and the group membership with the respective electronic mail addresses is retrieved when the policy is created. For the OneDrive accounts location, you lot must identify and then specify individual OneDrive URLs for each executive. For new executives, you must reconfigure the retentiveness policy to add together the new email addresses and OneDrive URLs. Y'all must too update the OneDrive URLs anytime there is a change in an executive's UPN.

  OneDrive URLs are specially challenging to reliably specify considering by default, these URLs aren't created until the user accesses their OneDrive for the first time. And if a user'due south UPN changes, which you lot might not know about, their OneDrive URL automatically changes.

Advantages of using adaptive scopes:

• No limits on the number of items per policy. Although adaptive policies are still subject to the maximum number of policies per tenant limitations, the more than flexible configuration will likely result in far fewer policies.

• More than powerful targeting for your retentiveness requirements. For example, y'all can assign unlike retention settings to users according to their geographical location by using existing Azure AD attributes without the administrative overhead of creating and maintaining groups for this purpose.

• Query-based membership provides resilience confronting business changes that might non exist reliably reflected in group membership or external processes that rely on cross-section communication.

• A single retention policy tin include locations for both Microsoft Teams and Yammer, whereas when you utilise a static scope, these locations require their own retention policy.

• You tin can apply specific retention settings to just inactive mailboxes. This configuration isn't possible with a static scope because at the time the policy is assigned, static scopes don't support the specific inclusion of recipients with inactive mailboxes.

Advantages of using static scopes:

• Simpler configuration if you lot want all instances automatically selected for a workload.

  For "includes" and "excludes", this choice can be a simpler configuration initially if the numbers of instances that you lot take to specify are low and do not change. All the same, when these number of instances start to increase and you have frequent changes in your organization that require yous to reconfigure your policies, adaptive scopes tin can be simpler to configure and much easier to maintain.

• The Skype for Business organisation and Exchange public folders locations don't back up adaptive scopes. For those locations, you must employ a static scope.

For configuration data, see Configuring adaptive scopes.

To sentry a recorded webinar (requires registration), visit Deep Dive on Adaptive Scopes.

Important

Currently, adaptive scopes don't back up Preservation Lock to restrict changes to retentivity policies and retention label policies.

Policy lookup

You can configure multiple retention policies for Microsoft 365 locations, likewise as multiple retentiveness characterization policies that you publish or auto-apply. To find the policies for retentiveness that are assigned to specific users, sites, and Microsoft 365 groups, apply Policy lookup from the Information governance solution in the Microsoft 365 compliance eye:

You must specify the exact electronic mail address for a user, exact URL for a site, or exact e-mail address for a Microsoft 365 group.

The selection for sites includes OneDrive accounts. For information how to specify the URL for a user's OneDrive business relationship, come across Become a list of all user OneDrive URLs in your organization.

The principles of retention, or what takes precedence?

Dissimilar retentivity labels, you lot tin can use more than i retention policy to the same content. Each memory policy can result in a retain action and a delete activeness. Additionally, that item could besides be discipline to these deportment from a memory label.

In this scenario, when items can be field of study to multiple retention settings that could conflict with one another, what takes precedence to determine the upshot?

The outcome isn't which single memory policy or unmarried retention characterization wins, but how long an item is retained (if applicable) and when an particular is deleted (if applicable). These ii actions are calculated independently from each other, from all the retention settings applied to an item.

For example, an particular might be subject to one retentiveness policy that is configured for a delete-only action, and another retention policy that is configured to retain and then delete. Consequently, this item has just one retain action only two delete actions. The retention and deletion actions could be in conflict with one another and the ii deletion deportment might have a conflicting date. The principles of retention explain the consequence.

At a high level, you can be bodacious that retention ever takes precedence over permanent deletion, and the longest retentiveness period wins. These ii simple rules always decide how long an detail volition be retained.

There are a few more factors that determine when an particular volition exist permanently deleted, which include the delete activeness from a retention label always takes precedence over the delete activeness from a retention policy.

Apply the post-obit flow to empathise the retentivity and deletion outcomes for a single item, where each level acts every bit a tie-billow for conflicts, from top to bottom. If the outcome is adamant by the first level considering there are no farther conflicts, there's no need to progress to the next level, and so on.

Important

If y'all are using retentivity labels: Before applying the principles to decide the outcome of multiple retention settings on the same detail, brand sure you know which retention characterization is applied.

Before explaining each principle in more than detail, it's important to understand the difference betwixt the retentiveness flow for the item vs. the specified retentivity period in the memory policy or retentiveness characterization. That'southward because although the default configuration is to beginning the retention menses when an detail is created, and so that the end of the retention period is fixed for the item, files also support the configuration to start the retention period from when the file is last modified. With this alternative configuration, every time the file is modified, the kickoff of the retention flow is reset, which extends the end of the retentiveness period for the item. Retention labels as well back up starting the retentiveness period when labeled and at the showtime of an result.

To employ the principles in activity with a series of Yes and No questions, you can also apply the retention flowchart.

Explanation for the four dissimilar principles:

1. Memory wins over deletion. Content won't exist permanently deleted when it also has retention settings to retain it. While this principle ensures that content is preserved for compliance reasons, the delete process can nevertheless exist initiated (user-initiated or arrangement-initiated) and consequently, might remove the content from users' main view. Nevertheless, permanent deletion is suspended. For more information most how and where content is retained, use the following links for each workload:

   • How retention works for SharePoint and OneDrive
   • How retention works with Microsoft Teams
   • How retention works with Yammer
   • How retentiveness works for Exchange

   Example for this offset principle: An email message is subject to a retention policy for Exchange that is configured to delete items 3 years afterward they are created, and it as well has a retention label applied that is configured to retain items five years after they are created.

   The email message is retained for 5 years because this retention action takes precedence over deletion. The email message is permanently deleted at the end of the five years because of the delete activity that was suspended while the retention action was in effect.

2. The longest retention period wins. If content is subject to multiple retention settings that retain content for different periods of time, the content will be retained until the stop of the longest retention menstruum for the particular.

   Note

   It's possible for a retention period of 5 years in a retention policy or label wins over a retention period of 7 years in a retentivity policy or characterization, because the 5-year period is configured to starting time based on when the file is last modified, and the 7-year period is configured to start from when the file is created.

   Example for this second principle: Documents in the Marketing SharePoint site are subject area to two retention policies. The showtime retention policy is configured for all SharePoint sites to retain items for five years later on they are created. The second retentiveness policy is configured for specific SharePoint sites to retain items for ten years subsequently they are created.

   Documents in this Marketing SharePoint site are retained for ten years because that'due south the longest retentivity menses for the item.

3. Explicit wins over implicit for deletions. With conflicts now resolved for retention, merely conflicts for deletions remain:

   1. A retention characterization (however it was applied) provides explicit retentivity in comparison with retentivity policies, because the retention settings are practical to an individual item rather than implicitly assigned from a container. This means that a delete action from a retention label always takes precedence over a delete action from any retention policy.

      Instance for this tertiary principle (label): A document is subject to two retention policies that accept a delete action of five years and ten years respectively, and besides a retentiveness label that has a delete action of seven years.

      The certificate is permanently deleted afterward vii years because the delete action from the retention characterization takes precedence.

   2. When you take retentiveness policies only: If a retention policy for a location uses an adaptive scope or a static scope that includes specific instances (such every bit specific users for Exchange email) that retention policy takes precedence over a static scope that is configured for all instances for the same location.

      A static scope that is configured for all instances for a location is sometimes referred to equally an "org-wide policy". For example, Exchange email and the default setting of All recipients. Or, SharePoint sites and the default setting of All sites. When memory policies aren't org-wide but accept been configured with an adaptive scope or a static telescopic that includes specific instances, they have equal precedence at this level.

      Example 1 for this third principle (policies): An e-mail message is subject to two retention policies. The first retention policy is unscoped and deletes items later on ten years. The 2d retention policy is scoped to specific mailboxes and deletes items afterwards five years.

      The email message is permanently deleted after five years because the deletion action from the scoped retention policy takes precedence over the org-wide retention policy.

      Instance 2 for this third principle (policies): A certificate in a user'due south OneDrive account is subject area to two retentivity policies. The first memory policy is scoped to include this user'due south OneDrive account and has a delete activeness later on 10 years. The 2d retention policy is scoped to include this user's OneDrive account and has a delete action later on seven years.

      When this document will be permanently deleted tin't be determined at this level because both retentiveness policies are scoped to include specific instances.

4. The shortest deletion period wins. Applicable to determine when items will be deleted from retention policies and the outcome couldn't exist resolved from the previous level: Content is permanently deleted at the end of the shortest retention period for the item.

   Note

   Information technology's possible that a retentiveness policy that has a retention catamenia of 7 years wins over a retentiveness policy of 5 years because the first policy is configured to start the retention flow based on when the file is created, and the second retention policy from when the file is concluding modified.

   Example for this quaternary principle: A certificate in a user's OneDrive account is subject to two retention policies. The first retention policy is scoped to include this user'due south OneDrive account and has a delete action of 10 years later on the file is created. The 2nd retention policy is scoped to include this user's OneDrive business relationship and has a delete activity of seven years after the file is created.

   This certificate will be permanently deleted after seven years because that'south the shortest retention period for the particular from these two scoped retention policies.

Items field of study to eDiscovery concur also fall under the first principle of memory; they cannot be permanently deleted by any retentivity policy or memory label. When that hold is released, the principles of retentiveness continue to utilise to them. For case, they could then be discipline to an unexpired retention menstruum or a delete action.

Principles of retentiveness examples that combine retain and delete actions

The following examples are more complex to illustrate the principles of retention when dissimilar retain and delete actions are combined. To make the examples easier to follow, all retention policies and labels use the default setting of starting the retention period when the particular is created so the cease of the retention menstruation is the same for the item.

1. An item has the following retention settings applied to it:

   • A retention policy for delete-only after five years
   • A retention policy that retains for three years and then deletes
   • A memory characterization that retains-simply for seven years

   Outcome: The item is retained for seven years because retention takes precedence over deletion and seven years is the longest retentiveness period for the particular. At the terminate of this retention period, the item is permanently deleted considering of the delete action from the retention policies.

   Although the 2 retentiveness policies take unlike dates for the delete actions, the primeval that the detail can exist permanently deleted is at the end of the longest retentiveness period, which is longer than both deletion dates.

2. An particular has the following retention settings applied to it:

   • An org-wide retention policy that deletes-but after ten years
   • A retention policy scoped with specific instances that retains for five years and then deletes
   • A retention label that retains for 3 years and then deletes

   Outcome: The particular is retained for five years because that's the longest retention menstruum for the item. At the stop of that memory period, the particular is permanently deleted because of the delete action of iii years from the retention label. Deletion from retentiveness labels takes precedence over deletion from all retention policies. In this case, all conflicts are resolved by the tertiary level.

Utilize Preservation Lock to restrict changes to policies

Some organizations might demand to comply with rules defined by regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-four, which requires that later a policy for memory is turned on, information technology cannot be turned off or made less restrictive.

Preservation Lock ensures your system can meet such regulatory requirements because it locks a retention policy or retention label policy so that no ane—including an ambassador—can turn off the policy, delete the policy, or brand it less restrictive.

You apply Preservation Lock after the retention policy or retention label policy is created. For more data and instructions, run across Apply Preservation Lock to restrict changes to retention policies and retentivity label policies.

Releasing a policy for retention

Providing your policies for retention don't have a Preservation Lock, you can delete your policies at any time, which effectively turns off the retentiveness settings for a retentivity policy, and memory labels can no longer exist applied from retentiveness characterization policies. Any previously applied retention labels remain with their configured retentiveness settings and for these labels, y'all can all the same update the retention period when it's not based on when items were labeled.

Yous can also keep a policy, but alter the location status to off, or disable the policy. Some other option is to reconfigure the policy so it no longer includes specific users, sites, groups, and and then on.

Boosted information for specific locations:

• SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts:

  When yous release a retention policy for SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts, any content that'southward subject to retentivity from the policy continues to be retained for 30 days to prevent inadvertent data loss. During this 30-day grace period deleted files are still retained (files proceed to be added to the Preservation Concord library), but the timer job that periodically cleans upwardly the Preservation Concord library is suspended for these files so yous tin can restore them if necessary.

  An exception to this thirty-day grace menstruation is when you update the policy to exclude one or more sites for SharePoint or accounts for OneDrive; in this example, the timer job deletes files for these locations in the Preservation Concur library without the thirty-solar day delay.

  For more information about the Preservation Hold library, run across How retention works for SharePoint and OneDrive.

  Because of the behavior during the grace menstruum, if y'all re-enable the policy or change the location status dorsum to on within 30 days, the policy resumes without whatsoever permanent data loss during this time.

• Substitution email and Microsoft 365 Groups

  When you lot release a retentiveness policy for mailboxes that are inactive at the time the policy is released:

  • If the retention policy is explicitly applied to a mailbox, the retention settings no longer apply. With no retention settings applied, an inactive mailbox becomes eligible for automatic deletion in the usual way.

    An explicit memory policy requires either an adaptive policy scope, or a static policy scope with an include configuration that specified an agile mailbox at the time the policy was applied and later became inactive

  • If the memory policy is implicitly applied to a mailbox and the configured retention action is to retain, the retention policy continues to apply and an inactive mailbox never becomes eligible for automatic deletion. When the retain activity no longer applies considering the retentivity menses has expired, the Substitution admin can now manually delete the inactive mailbox

                          An implicit retentivity policy requires a static policy telescopic with the **All recipients** (for Substitution email) or **All groups** (for Microsoft 365 Groups) configuration.                                          

    For more than information most inactive mailboxes that have retention policies applied, come across Inactive mailboxes and Microsoft 365 retention.

Auditing retention configuration and actions

When auditing is enabled, auditing events for retentivity are supported for both administration configuration (retentivity policies and retention labels) and retentivity actions (retention labels only).

Auditing retention configuration

Administrator configuration for retention policies and retentivity labels is logged as auditing events when a memory policy or label is created, reconfigured, or deleted.

For the full list of auditing events, see Retention policy and retention label activities.

Auditing retention actions

Retention actions that are logged as auditing events are bachelor just for retention labels and not for retentiveness policies:

• When a retention characterization is applied, changed, or removed from an item in SharePoint or OneDrive:

  • From File and folio activities, select Changed retention label for a file

• When a labeled particular in SharePoint is marked as a record, and it is unlocked or locked by a user:

  • From File and folio activities, select Changed record status to unlocked and Changed record status to locked

• When a retention characterization that marks content as a record or regulatory record is practical to an item in Substitution:

  • From Exchange mailbox activities, select Labeled bulletin as a tape

• When a labeled detail in SharePoint, OneDrive, or Exchange is marked as a record or regulatory record, and it is permanently deleted:

  • From File and page activities, select Deleted file marked every bit a record

• When a disposition reviewer takes action for an item that's reached the end of its retention menses:

  • From Disposition review activities, select Approved disposal, Extended retentiveness period, Relabeled particular, or Added reviewers

PowerShell cmdlets for memory policies and retention labels

To use the retentivity cmdlets, yous must outset connect to the Office 365 Security & Compliance Center PowerShell. Then, utilize any of the post-obit cmdlets:

• Go-ComplianceTag

• New-ComplianceTag

• Remove-ComplianceTag

• Set-ComplianceTag

• Enable-ComplianceTagStorage

• Become-ComplianceTagStorage

• Get-RecordReviewNotificationTemplateConfig

• Go-RetentionCompliancePolicy

• New-RetentionCompliancePolicy

• Remove-RetentionCompliancePolicy

• Set-RecordReviewNotificationTemplateConfig

• Set-RetentionCompliancePolicy

• Go-RetentionComplianceRule

• New-RetentionComplianceRule

• Remove-RetentionComplianceRule

• Gear up-RetentionComplianceRule

When to use retention policies and retention labels or eDiscovery holds

Although retentivity settings and holds that yous create with an eDiscovery example tin both prevent data from being permanently deleted, they are designed for different scenarios. To assist you sympathise the differences and make up one's mind which to apply, use the following guidance:

• Memory settings that you specify in retention policies and retention labels are designed for a long-term information governance strategy to retain or delete data for compliance requirements. The scope is ordinarily broad with the main focus being the location and content rather than individual users. The commencement and finish of the retentivity period is configurable, with the option to automatically delete content without additional administrator intervention.

• Holds for eDiscovery (either Core eDiscovery or Avant-garde eDiscovery cases) are designed for a limited elapsing to preserve data for a legal investigation. The scope is specific with the focus beingness content owned by identified users. The start and stop of the preservation menstruum isn't configurable only dependent on individual administrator actions, without an option to automatically delete content when the agree is released.

Summary to compare memory with holds:

Consideration	Retention	eDiscovery holds
Business need:	Compliance	Legal
Time scope:	Long-term	Short-term
Focus:	Broad, content-based	Specific, user-based
Start and end date configurable:	Yes	No
Content deletion:	Yes (optional)	No
Administrative overheads:	Depression	High

If content is subject to both retention settings and an eDiscovery hold, preserving content for the eDiscovery agree always takes precedence. In this way, the principles of retention expand to eDiscovery holds because they preserve information until an ambassador manually releases the concord. All the same, despite this precedence, don't employ eDiscovery holds for long-term information governance. If yous are concerned nigh automatic deletion of information, yous can configure retention settings to retain items forever, or employ disposition review with retention labels.

If you lot are using older eDiscovery tools to preserve data, see the following resources:

• Exchange:

  • In-Place Hold and Litigation Hold
  • How to identify the type of hold placed on an Exchange Online mailbox

• SharePoint and OneDrive:

  • Add content to a case and identify sources on concur in the eDiscovery Centre

• Retirement of legacy eDiscovery tools

Apply retention policies and retention labels instead of older features

If y'all need to proactively retain or delete content in Microsoft 365 for information governance, we recommend that you use retention policies and retention labels instead of the following older features.

If you currently utilise these older features, they volition continue to work side past side with Microsoft 365 retention policies and retentiveness labels. However, we recommend that going forward, you use Microsoft 365 retentiveness policies and retentiveness labels to benefit from a unmarried solution to manage both retentiveness and deletion of content across multiple workloads in Microsoft 365.

Older features from Commutation Online:

• Retention tags and retention policies, also known as messaging records direction (MRM) (deletion only)

  However, if you apply the following MRM features, be aware that they aren't currently supported by Microsoft 365 retention policies:

  • An archive policy for archive mailboxes to automatically move emails from a user's primary mailbox to their archive mailbox after a specified period of fourth dimension. An archive policy (with any settings) can exist used in conjunction with a Microsoft 365 retentiveness policy that applies to a user's primary and archive mailbox.

  • Retention policies practical by an admin to specific folders within a mailbox. A Microsoft 365 retention policy applies to all folders in the mailbox. However, an admin can configure different retentivity settings past using retention labels that a user can utilise to folders in Outlook as a default retention label.

• Litigation hold (retention only)

  Although Litigation holds are still supported, we recommend you utilize Microsoft 365 retentivity or eDiscovery holds, equally appropriate.

Older features from SharePoint and OneDrive:

• Document deletion policies (deletion but)

• Configuring in identify records direction (retention merely)

• Use policies for site closure and deletion (deletion only)

• Information management policies (deletion only)

If you take configured SharePoint sites for content type policies or data management policies to retain content for a list or library, those policies are ignored while a retentiveness policy is in effect.

• SharePoint Online Limits
• Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams
• Resource to help you lot meet regulatory requirements for information governance and records management

Configuration guidance

See Get started with information governance. This commodity has information about subscriptions, permissions, and links to end-to-stop configuration guidance for retention scenarios.

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Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/retention

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