Where are User Teams Chats Stored and For How Long? Plus Some Litigation Q's

Zach U 0 Reputation points
Oct 9, 2024, 1:08 PM

Curious to understand, if Teams chats are stored in the mailbox of the user if I place a user on litigation hold using the Exchange Online P2 with the archive add-on, does that keep Teams chat history as well?

What about for users not on litigation hold, and become unlicensed due to leaving the org in terms of Teams chat history? If our organization does not have a specific retention policy for Teams chats, how long are chats saved for?

TIA

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  1. LiweiTian-MSFT 22,535 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    Oct 10, 2024, 1:44 AM

    Hi @Zach U

    When you place a user on litigation hold using Exchange Online P2, Teams chat messages are indeed stored in the user’s mailbox. This includes 1:1 chats, group chats, and private channel messages.

    Private channel chats are stored in user mailboxes, while standard channel chats are stored in the mailbox associated with the parent team. If there is already a legal hold in place for a user mailbox, the hold policy will now automatically apply to private channel messages stored in that mailbox. There is no further action needed for an admin to turn this on. Legal hold of files shared in private channels is also supported.

    By default, Teams chat history is retained permanently. If your organization has set a retention policy for Teams, it will be retained according to the policy.


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