Forum Discussion
SharePoint Online Backups
- A deleted file or item can be recovered from the Recycle bin for 93 days.
Also in a document library, 500 versions of files are stored, so in the event of a file being overwritten / corrupted, you can restore a previous version.
You could configure retention policies, so any file changes or deletions are captured and retained for a defined period - e.g. for a Finance site, perhaps retain for 7 years.
AndrewWarland regarding the deletion issue - that sounds like you are using labels, rather than a site level retention policy.
There is a difference in behaviour when applying a label with associated retention, I agree. I documented it here.
Rob Ellis thanks, yes, I was referring to retention labels applied to document libraries. Users cannot delete documents when this happens, which I actually think is correct behaviour as 'retention is retention' - there would be no point in making a document 'invisible'.
This touches on when a retention label should be applied to a library (assuming you use this option). Administering a reasonably large and active environment (500 site collections, users cannot create their own), we found that (a) most records that need to be kept are in team sites (including separate project sites), (b) team sites can remain active for years, but (c) project sites tend to last for the life of the project.
Accordingly, our retention model is to apply retention labels to inactive libraries in team sites, and at the site level in inactive project sites (and also old inactive or redundant team sites).
One of the reasons we decided on applying labels to inactive libraries, and using the option 'when label was applied' (rather than date created or modified) as the trigger was to facilitate the disposal review process. Otherwise you'd end up with a trickle of records over time.
I think, based on long experience with other DM systems, that active libraries should remain active - allowing add/delete.