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How to Maintain an Exchange Litigation Hold for Former Employees
Question details
The user needs to know how to keep a former employee's Exchange Online mailbox under litigation hold after their original Microsoft 365 license has been reclaimed.
- Product
- Exchange Online
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Managing data retention and compliance requirements for departed employees while optimizing license costs.
- Observed behavior
- When the Microsoft 365 license is removed, the mailbox is disabled, which prevents the litigation hold from being maintained without alternative licensing.
Ensure you have Exchange administrator or Global administrator privileges in your Microsoft 365 tenant to view and modify user licensing and mailbox hold statuses.
Assign an Appropriate Exchange Online License
To maintain a litigation hold on an inactive or former employee's mailbox, you must assign a specific Exchange Online license before removing their primary Microsoft 365 license.
A litigation hold applies directly to the mailbox. If you completely remove a user's license without providing a qualifying Exchange license, the mailbox becomes disabled and the hold is no longer maintained.
To ensure compliance, you must assign either an Exchange Online Plan 2 license or a combination of Exchange Online Plan 1 and an Exchange Online Archiving add-on.
Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to 'Users', and then click on 'Active users'. Select the former employee's account.
Go to the 'Licenses and apps' tab for the selected user. Assign either an 'Exchange Online Plan 2' license or an 'Exchange Online Plan 1' license combined with 'Exchange Online Archiving'.
Once the required Exchange license is assigned and active, you can safely uncheck and reclaim their more expensive license (such as Microsoft 365 E3 or E5).
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Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I remove the license without placing a litigation hold?
If you remove an employee's license without a litigation hold or retention policy in place, the mailbox data is retained for 30 days. After this grace period, the data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
Can I convert the user mailbox to a shared mailbox to maintain the hold?
Yes, converting a user mailbox to a shared mailbox is common practice for departed employees. However, if the shared mailbox is placed under a litigation hold or if it exceeds 50 GB in size, it still requires an Exchange Online Plan 2 license.
How do I verify if a litigation hold is active on a mailbox?
You can verify the hold status by accessing the Exchange admin center, navigating to Recipients > Mailboxes, selecting the user's mailbox, and checking the 'Mailbox features' or 'Others' tab for the Litigation Hold status. Alternatively, you can use Exchange Online PowerShell.
