How to Monitor Changes to Microsoft 365 Retention Policies

Microsoft 365 retention policies control how the system removes items automatically from Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Teams, and other locations. Because these policies are so powerful, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on who makes changes to their settings. The audit log is a natural place to go looking for information about policy updates and while we can find information there, some of the data is oddly formatted or obscured for some reason. Persistence and PowerShell delivers answers, but this is a task way harder than it should be.

Excluding Inactive Mailboxes from Org-Wide Retention Holds

Exchange Online supports inactive mailboxes as a way to keep mailbox data online after Office 365 accounts are removed. Inactive mailboxes are available as long as a hold exists on them. You can update mailbox properties to exclude all or some org-wide holds. If you exclude holds from a mailbox, you run the risk that Exchange will permanently remove the mailbox. If that’s what you want, all is well, but if it’s not, then you might not be so happy.

Office 365 Data Governance at the European SharePoint Conference 2018

On Wednesday, November 28, Tony’s speaking about Office 365 Data Governance at the European SharePoint Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The topic is interesting, if only because its source material changes all the time.

Making sure that Microsoft 365 Retention Policies process Teams Items

Microsoft Teams support Office 365 retention policies, but how do you know if policies you create are effective in removing items from Teams? Well, as it turns out, you must go poking under the covers to validate that removals happen as planned.