OneDrive File Issues

How to Keep Access to OneDrive Files After an Employee Leaves

Nimra Malik Sep 30, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to ensure that business files stored in a departing employee's OneDrive remain accessible to the team after the employee's account is disabled.

How to Keep Access to OneDrive Files After an Employee Leaves

Product: Microsoft OneDrive
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: An employee is leaving the company, and their Microsoft 365 account is being offboarded and disabled.
Observed behavior: Files shared from the departing employee's OneDrive become unavailable to other team members when the account is disabled or the data retention period expires.

Before you start

Ensure you have Microsoft 365 administrator privileges, as managing access to a departing user's OneDrive and transferring company data securely requires administrative rights.

Solution 1Recommended

Move Business Files to a SharePoint Site

Transferring files to SharePoint shifts data ownership from the individual to the organization, ensuring reliable ongoing access for all required team members.

SharePoint is designed for team collaboration and file storage, making it the ideal location for organizational data. Moving files here prevents data loss when the original owner's account is eventually deleted.

Access the former employee's OneDrive

Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, navigate to 'Users' > 'Active users', select the departing employee, and under the 'OneDrive' tab, grant yourself access to their files.

Select the files to transfer

Open the user's OneDrive using the generated link and select all necessary business files and folders that need to be retained.

Use the Move to feature

Click 'Move to' in the top toolbar, select the appropriate SharePoint site and document library for your team, and click 'Move here'.

Verify and reassign permissions

Navigate to the destination SharePoint library and check the permission settings to ensure all relevant team members have the required access to the newly moved files.

Move Business Files to a SharePoint Site

Data Safety Secured: Once moved to SharePoint, the files are no longer tied to the departing employee's lifecycle and will remain safely accessible to the organization.

Solution 2

Grant File Access to Another Employee or Manager

Administrators can temporarily assign file access to a manager or replacement employee so they can review and back up the departing user's data before it is permanently deleted.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long are OneDrive files kept after an employee leaves?

By default, Microsoft 365 retains a deleted user's OneDrive data for 30 days. However, administrators can configure this retention period to last longer (up to 3650 days) in the SharePoint admin center.

Can I just keep the employee's Microsoft 365 license active to save their files?

While you can keep the account and license active, it means you will continue paying for that subscription indefinitely. It is much more cost-effective to move the necessary business files to a shared SharePoint library and then remove the paid license.

What happens to files shared with external clients when the OneDrive account is deleted?

Once the OneDrive account is deleted and the retention period expires, all sharing links break, and external clients will lose access. You must move those files to SharePoint and generate new sharing links to maintain external access.

Document & File Issues