Forum Discussion
Email Account Message retention
I need help.
We have a person who left our company but has a lot of contracts and good information in their account.
What are my options to keep this info for a long time.
If I can retain the Folder structure that would be Very nice because they had it very well organized.
1. Should I export as a PST and Import into whoever needs it?
2. In-Place Hold?
3. Leave it as a "Shared" account?
5 Replies
Hi David Kamp
I would not recommend 1 as it's taking the data out of the cloud service, moving data around could corrupt it. Option 3 and converting the mailbox to shared - this could accidently be deleted by another admin, or the data changed/modified
I would personally use in place hold
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/in-place-and-litigation-holds
No worry then about loss of data or corruption. What you have identified as valuable and preserved until the time you remove it and get rid of it.
Hope that answers your question!
Best, ChrisWell holds don't really prevent you from deleting data, as in making it inaccessible via the client, which can create issues if those contacts need to be accessible at all time. Plus, it requires a license, which adds a cost for a mailbox you will not be using otherwise.
If those contacts need to be exposed to a large number of users or the entire organization, you can consider recreating them directly in the GAL. Converting the mailbox to shared one can also work, and if you want to make sure no data is ever lost from said mailbox you can follow Chris's suggestion and put it on hold.
Hmm, that's true VasilMichev - yes, what I meant was preventing loss as opposed to the actual act of deleting the item. Have amended. Cheers!
Best, Chris
