Email Account Message retention

[David Kamp]

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?

[#2]

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, Chris

[#3]

Well 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.

[#4]

Hmm, that's true @Vasil Michev  - yes, what I meant was preventing loss as opposed to the actual act of deleting the item. Have amended. Cheers!

Best, Chris

[#5]

@Christopher Hoard 

After the Person left, I converted the account to a Shared account.

Only two people need this info.

[#6]

Ok, cool.

I wouldn't personally due to compliance reasons and because I don't want to lose the data in the event someone deletes it. However as Vasil said, if you don't want the cost - and as you said - only a very small amount of users need access to it and won't touch it then the shared mailbox will work. From personal experience and working with partners and customers I am personally a big advocate of holds - in the case of accidental deletion inasmuch as purposeful

Glad it worked out

Best, Chris