Until now, every Microsoft 365 Backup policy came with a fixed 1-year recovery window. That worked well for many organizations, but not for everyone.
Some only need a few months of recoverability and don’t want to pay for longer backup storage. Others have compliance requirements that demand backup data stay available for much longer than a year. Either way, the fixed limit left little room to adjust!
That changes from late July 2026.
Admins will be able to set the recovery window anywhere between 3 months and 2 years, configured per backup policy, right from the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Existing backup policies will continue using the default 1-year recovery window unless you update them.
- If you reduce the recovery window on an existing policy, backup data outside the new window will be permanently deleted after a grace period.
That’s not reversible, so this is one to plan deliberately, not tweak on a whim.
I feel this really gives admins better control over how long backup data is retained, instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all approach on every organization.