Purview retention for 30 employees: what you really need to configure

Microsoft Purview uses two separate tools to control how long content in your Microsoft 365 tenant is retained and when it is automatically deleted: retention policies for entire mailboxes or sites, and retention labels for individual items. According to the official Microsoft documentation on retention retention policies cover the workloads Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Viva Engage, while retention labels allow finer, item-level control. For a company with 30 employees, a single, broadly applied policy is usually sufficient in most cases, supplemented by a few labels for particularly sensitive documents. As of: August 2026.

What is the difference between a policy and a label?

A retention policy applies to entire mailboxes, sites, or Teams channels and determines how long content there is retained at minimum or deleted at the latest, without anyone having to manually mark individual files. A retention label, on the other hand, is applied to individual documents, emails, or list items, either manually by users or automatically based on conditions, and typically overrides the general policy for that specific item. For most SMEs, the sensible starting point is a policy at the tenant level; labels are only added once individual document types, such as contracts or HR records, require different retention periods.

Which license do you need to publish retention labels?

The permission to publish retention labels is tied to specific licenses. According to the Microsoft documentation on the license requirements these include, among others, Microsoft 365 Business Premium as well as the E3 and E5 plans, in addition to the dedicated Purview suite licenses. The respective storage location is also relevant: for Exchange mailboxes, the licenses Exchange Online Plan 1 or 2 are sufficient, for SharePoint or OneDrive locations the licenses SharePoint Online Plan 1 or 2. A Business Premium tenant can therefore generally publish labels without needing an upgrade to E5, as long as the target locations are within the licensed workloads.

How do you get started with a retention policy in practice?

Before creating a policy, determine whether content should primarily be retained, primarily deleted, or both in a staggered manner over time, since this fundamental decision determines the later configuration. Then, in the Purview compliance portal, select the affected workloads and specify a period, usually calculated in years from the creation date or the last modification date, as described in the Microsoft guide to retention settings. Test a new policy first on a single site or a single mailbox before extending it to the entire tenant, since content that has been deleted once often cannot be restored.

Where is a process needed in addition to retention alone?

Retention policies themselves do not trigger any notifications and do not replace a documented deletion process; they merely ensure that content is technically retained or deleted as long, or as promptly, as configured. Anyone who additionally wants to ensure that a person is informed or approval is obtained before an automatic deletion needs a separate process outside of Purview for this, for example via Power Automate or a comparable automation that reacts to upcoming deadlines.

Frequently asked questions about Purview retention for SMEs

Is Microsoft 365 Business Premium sufficient for a complete retention strategy?

For the basic use of retention policies and labels, yes, since Business Premium is, according to Microsoft, among the licenses that provide usage rights for publishing labels. For advanced features such as automated, content-based classification, additional Purview licenses beyond the standard scope of Business Premium are sometimes required.

What happens if a retention policy and a label contradict each other?

As a rule, a label applied to an individual item takes precedence over a general policy, since it is considered a more targeted rule. When multiple rules apply simultaneously, additional precedence principles come into play, which is why it is worth checking more complex combinations on test content before productive use.

Can I restore an email that has been deleted once the retention period has expired?

After a deletion period has expired and the content has actually been deleted by a policy, restoration is generally no longer possible; that is the actual purpose of the function. Therefore, check deletion periods particularly carefully before activating a policy in production, rather than trying to correct periods afterward.

Does a retention policy also apply to chats in Microsoft Teams?

Yes, according to Microsoft, Teams is among the workloads covered by retention policies, both for channel messages and for private chats. Note that channel and chat content can behave differently on a technical level, and it is worth checking both areas separately rather than assuming uniform coverage.