Best Practices for Archiving Emails and OneDrive for Departed Employees

Backing everything up is a solid strategy. You can use various backup products, and then export the data. We use Backupify, which does an okay job. Also, check out Keepit if anyone has used it.

For long-term storage, just download all the files from the user’s OneDrive to cover everything in the M365 environment, turn their email into a shared mailbox, give the manager access, and remove the licenses. If it’s just for a short while—say 30 days—reset all security information, give manager access, and then delete it in a month!

The approach really depends on how long you need to keep the data. In my workplace, we keep things for up to 10 years. We usually convert the old mailbox to a shared one, unlicense the account completely, and add an 'X' at the start of their name to easily identify it. Only the manager gets access to these emails and OneDrive for a month, after which we remove access. I'd be curious to hear other methods since we do have a buildup of accounts to manage!

I recommend turning the email into a shared mailbox so it can be accessed as needed. Grant supervisor access to OneDrive, then remove licenses afterward. The time frame for fully deleting these accounts really should consider the user’s role in the company. My department tends to be pretty cautious with deletions.