User offboarding (Microsoft 365)

Concept

Steps when someone leaves an organization: find and hand over their files and access, then remove the account. In Microsoft 365, deleted accounts can be restored for 30 days by default, and OneDrive data is kept for a limited time.

Description

Offboarding means handling a user's data and access when they leave. Microsoft Learn describes these points for Microsoft 365:

If only the license is removed and the account is not deleted, an admin can get access to the user's OneDrive files directly. If the account is deleted, it can be restored for 30 days; after that the data is permanently deleted. For OneDrive, the default retention for deleted users is 30 days. After that, the OneDrive moves to the site collection recycle bin, where it is kept for 93 days (this is described on the page about deleting a user). While it sits there, content shared from that OneDrive is not accessible to other people. The retention time can be increased.

To give another person access, an admin can add that person as site collection administrator of the former employee's OneDrive, or create a link to the files and download or move them. When documents with version history are moved or copied this way, only the latest version is moved. SharePoint files do not need to be moved, because they stay with the sites. Files that were synced to the person's computer stay there; an admin cannot wipe them. Deleting the account does not stop the license cost; licenses are reduced separately. Accounts with e-mail forwarding or a converted shared mailbox should not be deleted.

Sources (Microsoft Learn, checked in November 2026): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/add-users/remove-former-employee-step-5 , https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/add-users/delete-a-user

Related topics in brief

• OneDrive · Related to · Product
  Microsoft's cloud storage for personal work files. It syncs folders across devices and integrates with SharePoint, sharing controls and Microsoft 365 apps.
• SharePoint · Related to · Product
  Microsoft 365's platform for intranets, document libraries and team sites. Most files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint, so its permissions directly decide what Copilot can find.
• SharePoint permissions · Related to · Concept
  How access to SharePoint sites and content is controlled: through a Microsoft 365 group or the SharePoint groups Owners, Members and Visitors, and through sharing links for single files and folders.
• Orphaned sites · Related to · Concept
  SharePoint or Teams sites that no longer have an active owner, typically because the original owner left the organization, while their content and permissions remain in the tenant.
• Access reviews · Related to · Concept
  Recurring Microsoft Entra reviews that ask designated reviewers whether a person still needs access to a group, application, access package or privileged role, optionally applying removals automatically.
• Guest access · Related to · Concept
  The ability to add people from outside the organization to Microsoft 365 groups and Teams as guest objects in Microsoft Entra ID, controlled at tenant, team and sensitivity-label level.
• SharePoint Essentials Toolkit · Related to · Product
  Cognillo tool for SharePoint administrators and site owners: reports on permissions, oversharing and sharing links, a broken link monitor, content tools, SharePoint-to-SharePoint migration, metadata reports and scheduled exports.

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• Mirko Peters · via OneDrive

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-11