Email and collaboration
What happens to your data when a Microsoft 365 subscription expires
If you cancel within the cancellation window, the subscription moves directly to Disabled. Customer data you leave behind might be deleted after 90 days and is deleted no later than 180 days after cancellation. Deleting the subscription itself skips Expired and Disabled, and SharePoint Online data, including OneDrive, is deleted immediately.
| Rule | What changes |
|---|---|
| When you stop paying | If you cancel within the cancellation window, the subscription moves directly to Disabled. |
| Deletion events | 4 events. See the timeline below. |
| Deletion window | 180 days |
| Export | 4 steps. See the steps below. |
| Who can export | Sign in to the Microsoft Purview portal as a user assigned eDiscovery permissions. |
| What the export requires | Search export packages expire 14 days after you create them. |
| Recovery after deletion | A deleted subscription cannot be reactivated. |
What Microsoft 365 does when you stop paying
Canceling inside the cancellation window and deleting the subscription are different endings. A cancellation moves the subscription straight to Disabled. Customer data you leave behind might be deleted after 90 days and is deleted no later than 180 days after cancellation. For most offers the Expired status lasts 30 days, with normal access for everyone, and Disabled lasts 90 days, with only admins able to open the data. Deleting the subscription skips both statuses. SharePoint Online data, including OneDrive, is deleted immediately on that path. A global or billing admin can still reactivate during Expired or Disabled. A deleted subscription cannot be reactivated, and a new subscription of the same type does not bring the old data back. Microsoft explains what happens when you stop paying in What happens to my data and access when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends?. For the other tools you still pay for, read what happens to company data when you cancel software. Closing this subscription while the company closes is part of how to wind down a company.
Deletion timeline for Microsoft 365
| Event | After | What the vendor says |
|---|---|---|
| Expired | 30 days | For most offers the Expired status lasts 30 days. Customer data stays accessible to everyone, and users keep normal access. |
| Disabled | 90 days | The Disabled status lasts 90 days. Only admins can open the data, and users cannot open Microsoft 365 apps. |
| Cancel inside the cancellation window | 180 days | Leftover customer data might be deleted after 90 days and is deleted no later than 180 days after cancellation. Expired and Disabled are access statuses, not a second deletion date. |
| Delete the subscription | 0 days | An explicit delete skips Expired and Disabled. SharePoint Online data, including OneDrive, is deleted immediately. |
See Microsoft 365 in the deletion-window dataset beside the other systems.
Export your Microsoft 365 data before you cancel
The current export runs in the Microsoft Purview portal. Sign in as a user with eDiscovery permissions, open Cases, open the search, and select Export. Name the export, choose the items and the format, and start it. Mailbox items download as PST files or as individual messages. SharePoint and OneDrive content downloads as copies of the native documents. Search export packages expire 14 days after you create them. Download from Process manager before that, because Microsoft deletes the package and the data in it.
The cross-vendor checklist is what to do before canceling software when closing a business.
Go to the Microsoft Purview portal and sign in with a user account that has eDiscovery permissions.
Go to the Microsoft Purview portal and sign in with a user account that has eDiscovery permissions.Select the eDiscovery solution card, then Cases. Open a case, open the Searches tab, and select the search query to export.
Select the eDiscovery solution card, then Cases. Open a case, open the Searches tab, and select the search query to export.Select Export, enter an export name, choose the items and the format, and select Export again.
Select Export, enter an export name, choose the items and the format, and select Export again.Download the package from Process manager within 14 days. After 14 days the search export package and the data in it are deleted and cannot be recovered.
Download the package from Process manager within 14 days. After 14 days the search export package and the data in it are deleted and cannot be recovered.
Who can run the export
The person who exports needs eDiscovery permissions on the account that signs in to the Purview portal. That user also needs a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license. SharePoint content needs a SharePoint E3 license on the same account, or those items might not export as expected. A user without those permissions can see the portal and still be unable to start the export. Run it while an admin can still open the subscription. During Disabled, only admins can open the data, so that is the last status in which an admin export is realistic.
What to keep from Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 holds the company's mail, SharePoint files, and OneDrive files as one tenant. The Purview package is a copy of the search you exported, not a second subscription. A licensed copy can keep the mailbox items, the SharePoint and OneDrive documents in the package, and the items report that travels with them. Names, emails, phone numbers, customer and staff details, passwords, and legal files are removed before any copy is shared. Download the package before the 14 days run out. After that, the package itself is gone even if the tenant is still in Disabled.
- Mailbox items exported as PST or individual messages
- SharePoint and OneDrive documents in the export package
- The items report that travels with the export
Removed before sharing:
- Names, emails and phone numbers
- Customer and staff details
- Passwords and legal files
Read what data is shared when licensing company data before you decide which of the items below can stay.
Plan-specific caveats
Files restricted by a data-loss-prevention action can show in search statistics and still be left out of the export. SharePoint sites locked with NoAccess are skipped. An explicit delete of the subscription does not wait 90 or 180 days. It removes SharePoint Online data, including OneDrive, immediately. The 30-day figure is the Expired status for most offers. It is not the day the files are deleted. The outer bound on a cancellation is no later than 180 days, and Microsoft says the data might be deleted after 90.
What a licensing program can use from email and collaboration
A licensing program can keep mail, calendar events, and shared documents as the record of how work moved between teams.
A Purview export is a different file from a Drive archive or a mailbox zip on another host. Read what happens to your data when you cancel Google Workspace, what happens to your Zoho Workplace data when you cancel, and what happens to your Slack messages when you stop paying.
Microsoft 365 is named on banking company data for AI research, insurance company data for AI research, healthcare company data for AI research, pharma company data for AI research, education company data for AI research, logistics company data for AI research, manufacturing company data for AI research, legal services company data for AI research, accounting firm data for AI research, energy company data for AI research, and construction company data for AI research.
Related
- What's shared
Which records can be licensed, which details never leave, and what you approve.
- How it works
The six steps from a short enquiry to payment, and how to stop.
Questions about Microsoft 365 cancellation
Can deleted Microsoft 365 data be recovered?
A deleted subscription cannot be reactivated. A new subscription of the same type does not restore the data that belonged to the deleted subscription. During Expired or Disabled, a global or billing admin can still reactivate. For most offers Expired lasts 30 days and Disabled lasts 90 days. While the subscription is Disabled, only admins can open the data.
Do we need a paid Microsoft 365 plan to export everything?
Search export packages expire 14 days after you create them. Microsoft then deletes the package and everything in it, and that package cannot be recovered. Download it first. The exporting user needs a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license, and SharePoint items also need a SharePoint E3 license. Files restricted by a data-loss-prevention action are left out. Sites locked with NoAccess are skipped.
What happens if you delete a Microsoft 365 subscription instead of canceling it?
Deleting the subscription skips the Expired and Disabled statuses. SharePoint Online data, including OneDrive, is deleted immediately. A cancellation is the other path. It moves the subscription to Disabled, and leftover customer data might be deleted after 90 days and is deleted no later than 180 days. A deleted subscription cannot be reactivated, and a new subscription of the same type does not restore the old data.
How long does a Microsoft Purview search export stay available?
A search export package expires 14 days after you create it. Microsoft then deletes the package and the data in it, and that package cannot be recovered. Download it from Process manager before the 14 days end. The person exporting needs eDiscovery permissions and a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license. SharePoint items also need a SharePoint E3 license on that account.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn. What happens to my data and access when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends?. Checked 2026-11-04
- Microsoft Learn. Export search results in eDiscovery. Checked 2026-11-04