How to set up litigation holds in Office 365

Emails are often the first source of evidence in audits, disputes, or legal cases. Without proper safeguards, deleted or modified emails might not be retrievable when needed. A litigation hold (also called a legal hold) in Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365) ensures that mailbox data remains preserved, even if users attempt to delete or edit messages.

This article explains what a litigation hold means, why it is important, and the different ways you can enable a litigation hold in Microsoft 365 using native tools such as the Exchange Admin Center and Exchange Online PowerShell, and how you can do it more efficiently with just a few clicks in ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus.

What is a litigation hold in Microsoft 365?

A litigation hold is a mechanism that preserves all mailbox content, including deleted items and modified versions of messages.

What a legal hold means in Microsoft 365

• When a mail box is placed on a litigation hold, messages cannot be permanently deleted by the user.
• Even if emails are deleted or edited, the original copies are preserved in the users' Recoverable Items folder, which can then be retrieved by admins.
• This ensures your organization complies with regulations and can present authentic data during audits or court cases.

A litigation hold can be applied to any specific user mailboxes, groups of mailboxes, or across the organization provided they have the Exchange Online Plan 2 license, which is included in the Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 license bundles.

How to enable litigation holds for Microsoft 365 mailboxes in Exchange Online

Prerequisite:

• The Exchange admin center does not provide a way to export the list of users who are assigned these shared mailbox permissions.

steps

1. Log in to the Exchange Admin Center and navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes.
2. Click the mailbox you want to apply the litigation hold to.
3. In the menu that pops up, select the Others tab and click Manage litigation hold.

4. Toggle on the Litigation Hold field.
5. Specify the hold duration, a note explaining the reason for the hold, or a webpage link for more information.
6. Click Save when you are done.

Note: You will have to repeat this set of steps for every mailbox you wish to configure a litigation hold for. If you wish to enable a litigation hold for Microsoft 365 mailboxes in bulk, you will have to resort to complex Exchange Online PowerShell scripts or you can try out the user-friendly one-click interface of M365 Manager Plus.

How to enable litigation holds for Microsoft 365 mailboxes using Exchange Online PowerShell

Prerequisites

Before using Exchange Online PowerShell, please verify that the following prerequisites are satisfied.

• The ExchangeOnlineManagement PowerShell module is installed. If not, install it using this script.
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Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser 

Update-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

• Connect to the Exchange Online module with this script.
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Connect-ExchangeOnline

• You have the Exchange Administrator role assigned. This role is required to run the Get-InboxRule cmdlet across mailboxes.

Using the Set-Mailbox cmdlet to enable litigation holds for Microsoft 365 mailboxes

The Set-Mailbox cmdlet can be used to configure any setting, in this case, litigation holds, for your Exchange Online mailboxes.The syntax for it is given below:

Set-Mailbox -Identity " < UserName > " -LitigationHoldEnabled $ < true or false > -LitigationHoldDuration < number of days >

Note: You can remove "-LitigationHoldDuration < number of days >" if you wish to configure a litigation hold in Microsoft 365 for an indefinite period.

Supported parameters

The following table contains the parameters that can be used along with the cmdlet Get-Mailbox to configure litigation holds on Microsoft 365 mailboxes.

An example use case for the Set-Mailbox cmdlet to enable a litigation hold for all Microsoft 365 mailboxes

Scenario

You received a company-wide directive from the legal team to preserve all employee mailbox data for one year due to an ongoing corporate investigation. Manually enabling a litigation hold for hundreds of users would be time-consuming with the Exchange Admin Center.

This is the cmdlet you will have to run to configure a litigation hold of one year for all of your Exchange Online mailboxes.

              Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Set-Mailbox -LitigationHoldEnabled $true -LitigationHoldDuration 365
            

Why should you configure litigation hold with M365 Manager Plus?

While native admin centers and PowerShell can be used to check and manage litigation hold statuses, they often require repeated manual effort and scripting. This is where ManageEngine's M365 Manager Plus simplifies administration.

M365 Manager Plus is a comprehensive administration and security solution for Microsoft 365.

How to enable a litigation hold for Microsoft 365 mailboxes with M365 Manager Plus

1. Log in to M365 Manager Plus and navigate to Management > Mailbox Management and select Set Mailbox Litigation Hold.
2. Select your desired Litigation Hold Owner, Hold Duration, Note, and URL.
3. Select your desired Microsoft 365 Tenant and type in the usernames you want to apply the litigation hold for.

4. Check the mailboxes that you want to enable a litigation hold for, and click Apply.

Track and enable Microsoft 365 litigation holds effortlessly

M365 Manager Plus’ legal hold capabilities help you view, manage, and audit litigation holds, eDiscovery holds, and all of their settings for all mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 environment. It streamlines policy assignment, offers in-depth reporting, and provides real-time monitoring, all through an intuitive web console without the need for complex Microsoft Graph PowerShell scripting.

Important tips

Frequently asked questions