Email Archiving for Microsoft 365

Did you know that emails stored in Exchange Online and Outlook in Microsoft 365 are not automatically backed up or archived, even though many companies are legally required to do so?

Read on to learn everything you need to know about professional and efficient email archiving for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365: The Most Popular Productivity Suite for Businesses Today

Microsoft 365 has proven itself as the most popular productivity and collaboration solution package for businesses worldwide. For example, according to market research firm Osterman Research, over 80% of companies in North America use Microsoft 365 for email.¹ In particular, Microsoft Outlook, used equally by small businesses and large companies, has proven itself as a leading email client.

Microsoft 365 Logo | ©Microsoft

Despite the emergence of collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, email remains the preferred corporate communication tool. According to Statista, the volume of global email traffic is expected to increase further in the coming years and reach approximately 392.5 billion emails by 2026.²

As email volumes increase, the challenges companies face in email management also increase. Businesses must deal with overflowing inboxes, slow email systems, and the need for protection against data loss while also complying with all legal and regulatory requirements for storing documents. Since emails can contain important information such as contracts and invoices, legal storage laws generally require that these documents be protected against tampering, remain faithful to the original, and be stored in a usable form for years (see compliance). Just like all files containing personal data, emails must also be processed and stored in accordance with privacy legislation such as the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Microsoft offers various options to ensure email security, depending on the plan you choose (Business Standard, Business Premium, Enterprise). Some of these are provided free of charge as part of the basic Microsoft 365 package or its included Exchange Online email service, while others are only included in more expensive Enterprise plans.

Email archiving options available in Microsoft 365:

• PST Archiving or Automatic Archiving: Users can move emails to PST files and store them locally on their own computers or in the cloud.
• The "Archive" button in Microsoft Outlook: This button allows users to move emails to an archive folder. Emails remain in the Outlook mailbox; only the storage location of the emails changes.
• Archiving the mailbox without Exchange Online archiving: An archive mailbox is a separate mailbox with its own storage space that emails can be moved to. This archive mailbox must be set up by an administrator.
• Archiving the mailbox with Exchange Online archiving: With Exchange Online Archiving (EOA), users can move emails to a separate archive mailbox where administrators can apply their own archiving and retention policies.

However, are these archiving methods sufficient to solve the technical challenges of modern email archiving and help with compliance issues? Short answer, in most cases, no.

Weaknesses of the Local Archiving Options in Microsoft 365

Although Microsoft 365 offers a variety of different options for archiving emails, you should be aware of several natural weaknesses and unique features to protect your organization from the risks involved.

• "Shared Responsibility" Model: Microsoft applies a shared responsibility principle to its Microsoft 365 services. In short, this means that Microsoft is responsible for ensuring the availability of its services under the Microsoft 365 label, but it does not take responsibility for protecting and storing customer data, including all data contained in emails. Therefore, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your emails are securely and reliably stored.
• Compliance Risk: Today, companies must comply with a variety of legal requirements, for example, the EU's GDPR. Companies operating on an international scale must comply with special requirements regarding data privacy, the transfer of data to third-party intermediaries for processing, and the location where data is stored (residency). Local archiving options in Microsoft 365 do not always provide the necessary security and compliance level in such situations.
• Risk of Data Loss Despite Archiving: First of all, PST files or the "Archive" button in Microsoft Outlook do not provide real protection against data loss. Similarly, distributing a separate archive mailbox (without using the paid Exchange Online Archiving service) does not meet all the criteria that an email archiving solution should meet. For example, storage capacity limitations may mean that older emails need to be deleted to make room for new ones. This process can result in the loss of important business information.
• Security vs. Comfort: Although it is comfortable for administrators to have all data in the same system, this concept also has disadvantages. If archived files remain in the same system as the original email data, it can lead to security risks. For example, if access data falls into the wrong hands or the system becomes a victim of a computer virus attack, not only the original data in the email service but also the archived data would be at risk.
• Limited Search Functions: Searching for specific emails or information within them in Microsoft 365 can be a tedious and time-consuming task. Especially when searching through large volumes of data, low efficiency can waste valuable working time.
• Important Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for SMEs: Exchange Online Archiving is the most powerful archiving tool among those embedded in Microsoft 365. However, this feature is only included in the premium plans of Microsoft 365 and is aimed at large enterprises. Exchange Online Archiving is not part of the Microsoft 365 plans tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and must be added as an additional, paid service if needed. In such cases, the cost of purchasing a third-party email archiving solution may be much lower, and it would be worth examining the total cost of ownership more closely.

In conclusion, the local email archiving functions of Microsoft 365 generally cannot provide a fully effective and secure archiving environment. Limited options can quickly lead to data security deficiencies, inefficient data management, and legal risks.

Solution: MailStore Server for Microsoft 365

MailStore Server is an independent email archiving software developed with small and medium-sized businesses in mind. It is easy to install, can be set up in just a few minutes, seamlessly adapts to existing infrastructures, and is compatible with nearly all standard email systems. Over 80,000 companies from various industries worldwide have been relying on MailStore for their email archiving needs for years.

Your Advantages with MailStore Server and Microsoft 365:

• Independence from Microsoft: Without an external email archive, users cannot access their emails if Microsoft 365 services fail. An independent email archiving solution like MailStore Server prevents "vendor lock-in" and ensures that your company's emails remain accessible even if the M365 services fail.
• Help with Regulatory Compliance: Many companies are subject to legal requirements regarding the retention periods for certain emails. To comply with these regulations, it is important that emails are stored for many years in an intact, original, tamper-proof, and permanently usable form. Compliance with data protection requirements should also be ensured. MailStore Server can help you comply with these regulations and is also GDPR certified. In addition, you have full control over your archived data and where it is located.
• Strong Protection Against Data Loss: With MailStore Server, you can effectively protect yourself against data loss caused by hardware failure or accidental deletion. For example, daily archiving helps preserve the integrity of your archive. PST files can also be centrally archived and protected, thus making mailbox quotas unnecessary.
• Efficient Data Management: Thanks to data deduplication and compression, the data stored in your MailStore Server archive takes up up to 70% less space than on the email server, allowing you to significantly reduce your Microsoft 365 storage needs while optimizing performance. In addition, archived emails can be deleted from the Microsoft 365 mailboxes, effectively eliminating exhausted mailbox quotas.
• Fast Search and Self-service for Users: Thanks to MailStore Server's powerful search functionality, you can find the emails you need within seconds. Searching for a sender, recipient, specific time points, or keywords is made easy with the MailStore Outlook Add-in. Users can also quickly and easily restore emails from the archive. This relieves the IT department of having to deal with such issues, reducing the workload of help desk teams. The efficient search functionality also simplifies the work of system administrators and compliance officers, especially when performing exploratory searches across multiple archives.
• Moderate Purchase and Operating Costs: MailStore Server is available as a low-cost starting package of $259.00 plus VAT. License costs quickly amortize themselves. You benefit from a reliable, low-maintenance software that allows you to save time and effort, focus on other important IT tasks, and increase your company's productivity.
• Seamless Integration with Microsoft 365: MailStore Server can be easily integrated into your existing Microsoft 365 environment with Active Directory synchronization, supporting up to 2,000 users. There is no complex setup or complicated configuration - you can start working immediately without any time loss!

With MailStore Server, you not only gain GDPR-compliant data storage and fast search functionality but also have full control over your archived emails. Our goal is to make your email archiving more secure and efficient while supporting you with compliance.

Source: Email Archiving for Microsoft 365 - MailStore