I'm curious about what everyone's email retention policies look like these days. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out a good Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for email retention. Previously, our policy kept everything in the inbox (except subfolders) for 5 years, while we had a 90-day purge window for sent items. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject!
5 Answers
In the large companies I've been part of, the typical retention period is about 1 year, mainly influenced by legal requirements.
For most users at our organization, we have a retention policy of 60 days. I'm not in IT, so I'm not sure about their archival processes, but based on my previous experience as an IT director, today's email retention is strongly driven by regulatory compliance. Be careful not to delete what you're not allowed to, but also don't keep emails longer than necessary.
The email retention policy really depends on your specific business requirements and any industry regulations you might need to follow. In my experience, we tend to retain all emails for about 7 years to cover our bases.
It's crucial to treat this as a business decision, not just a technical one. Definitely consult with your legal team to understand what guidelines you need to follow.
Just a heads up, email retention policies are more about legal and regulatory compliance these days rather than just technical limits. Make sure to check with your legal or risk management teams. Honestly, storage isn't an issue anymore — with O365, you get plenty of space, so focus on what the laws say instead.
Just to clarify, the storage sizes do depend on your O365 license! Some plans like Business Basic and Standard only provide 50GB. You need E3 or E5 to get that 100GB standard.