M365 Changelog: (Updated) Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle & Records Management & eDiscovery- Rollout update: optimized file version behavior

MC394512  — Updated July 08, 2022: Microsoft is updating this post as a reminder that we will begin rolling this out next week.

To improve the consistency of experience and performance, any file with multiple versions that is deleted from SharePoint or OneDrive which is preserved to the Preservation Hold Library (due to its applicable retention label, retention policies or eDiscovery holds) will now be retained as a single file containing its full version history, rather than each version being retained as individual files as has been the case until now.

Microsoft is pleased to confirm that rollout of this feature (originally announced in MC288633 October ’21) is now unblocked and will begin in mid-July 2022.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 82062

When this will happen:

Rollout is scheduled to begin in mid-July and complete by the end of August. 

How this will affect your organization:

This update changes the behavior of deleted files that are set to be retained, and that have multiple versions of the file. They will be retained in the Preservation Hold Library as a single file with all versions as part of its version history just like they exist before being deleted. Previously, each version was retained individually as a separate file.

This change affects your ability to search those versions in eDiscovery. It provides consistency for eDiscovery searches regardless of whether the file has been deleted or not, searching only the last version of it by default rather than getting multiple matches for versions in between them. 

If you have query-based holds configured in eDiscovery, there will be a change to how retained files are searched and retained as outlined above. For more information on query-based holds, please visit: Create eDiscovery holds in a Core eDiscovery case. 

These changes do not impact the retention or deletion of your content or cause any changes to your retention labels or policies, all versions are still being kept, just as part of the version history of the file.  

What you need to do to prepare:

No action is needed to enable this change; however, you may want to communicate this change to your users or team responsible for eDiscovery, Information Governance and Records Management at your organization.

Additional information