SharePoint Retention Period: What You Need to Know

In today’s digital workspace, data governance is more than just an IT requirement—it’s a business necessity. With organizations handling vast amounts of data daily, ensuring compliance, security, and proper data lifecycle management is critical. The inability to manage data effectively can lead to security vulnerabilities, legal complications, and excessive storage costs.

One of the key features in SharePoint that helps with this is the Retention Period, a built-in policy-driven feature that helps organizations manage how long content is stored before being deleted or archived. Understanding how retention policies work is crucial for businesses that rely on SharePoint for document management and compliance. But how does it work? Who needs it? What are the best practices? And how does it compare to alternative solutions? Let’s dive in.

What is SharePoint Retention Period?

The SharePoint Retention Period defines how long content (documents, emails, list items, etc.) is retained before deletion or archival. It is part of Microsoft Purview (formerly Microsoft Compliance Center), where organizations can set policies based on regulatory, legal, or operational requirements.

Key Components:

Retention Labels – These are labels applied to content either manually by users or automatically by policies. Retention labels determine how long content should be retained and what actions should be taken upon reaching the retention period.
Retention Policies – These are broader rules that apply to entire locations, such as SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts, Exchange mailboxes, or Microsoft Teams. Unlike labels, which apply to individual files, retention policies are applied at a higher level to manage large-scale governance.
Disposition Reviews – These allow organizations to have a final check before content is permanently deleted. This is especially useful for legal or compliance teams that need to ensure that records are properly reviewed before removal.

Why Do We Need Retention Policies?

Organizations use retention policies for several reasons:

Compliance: Many industries have strict regulations requiring data to be retained for specific periods. Regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and ISO standards dictate how long certain data should be stored. Non-compliance can result in severe penalties and legal consequences.
Security: Keeping data indefinitely increases security risks. Retention policies help mitigate potential breaches by ensuring that outdated or unnecessary files are disposed of in a controlled manner.
Storage Management: Without a structured retention policy, SharePoint storage can grow uncontrollably, leading to increased costs and reduced performance. Retention policies help optimize storage by removing unnecessary data systematically.
Litigation Protection: In the case of legal disputes, organizations need to ensure that they have the necessary records retained for a required period. Retention policies help in protecting critical documents while ensuring compliance with eDiscovery and legal hold requirements.

Who Uses SharePoint Retention?

Retention policies are widely used across different industries and departments:

Legal & Compliance Teams – These teams rely on retention policies to enforce regulatory requirements, maintain legal records, and ensure that documents are preserved for audits or litigation purposes.
IT Departments – IT administrators use retention policies to automate data lifecycle management, reduce unnecessary data storage, and maintain governance over sensitive company information.
Human Resources – HR teams use retention policies to manage employee records, performance reviews, and contracts. Some documents need to be kept for a specific period before deletion to align with employment laws and company policies.
Finance & Accounting – Financial departments need retention policies to store invoices, tax records, and other financial documents for the required number of years, as dictated by financial regulations and tax authorities.

Best Practices for Retention Policies

Understand Regulatory Requirements – Before setting up retention policies, ensure that you fully understand the legal and compliance requirements that apply to your industry. Failing to meet these requirements can result in penalties or legal challenges.
Use Retention Labels Wisely – Apply specific retention labels to different types of content. For example, financial documents may require longer retention periods compared to temporary project files.
Automate Policy Application – Use Microsoft Purview to automate the application of retention policies. This reduces the risk of human error and ensures consistency across all SharePoint sites.
Enable Disposition Reviews – Before permanently deleting files, enable disposition reviews so that compliance teams can verify which documents should be removed.
Test Policies Before Deployment – Always test your retention policies in a controlled environment before rolling them out across your organization.
Monitor & Adjust Policies – Regularly review retention policies to ensure they align with changing business and regulatory requirements.

Sample Implementation Using PowerShell

You can use PowerShell to apply retention labels in SharePoint Online. Below is a script to apply a retention label to a document library:

# Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSite" -UseWebLogin

# Apply Retention Label to a Document Library
$LibraryName = "Documents"
$RetentionLabel = "RetentionLabelName"

$Documents = Get-PnPListItem -List $LibraryName

foreach ($Document in $Documents) {
    Set-PnPListItem -List $LibraryName -Identity $Document.Id -Values @{ "ComplianceTag" = $RetentionLabel }
}

Write-Host "Retention Label applied successfully!"

This script retrieves all documents in a specified SharePoint Online document library and applies a retention label to each item. It ensures that all documents in the library follow the predefined retention rules.

Comparing SharePoint Retention to Alternatives

Feature	SharePoint Retention	Third-Party Tools (e.g., AvePoint, Metalogix)	Google Workspace Retention
Compliance Support	Strong	Stronger with extra features	Weaker for complex cases
Ease of Setup	Moderate	Easier with templates	Easier but less control
Cost	Included in M365 Plan	Additional licensing required	Part of Google Vault (extra cost)
Automation	Yes (PowerShell, Purview)	Yes, with advanced analytics	Basic automation

Useful References

SharePoint Retention Policies play a crucial role in ensuring compliance, security, and efficient data management. Whether you are a legal expert, IT admin, or compliance officer, understanding and implementing retention policies correctly can help protect your organization’s data and reduce risks.

By leveraging Microsoft Purview, automation tools, and best practices, organizations can create a structured and compliant approach to data retention. Always test policies before full deployment, monitor them regularly, and choose the best approach based on your business needs.