Microsoft Isn’t Backing Up Your Email or Files
Microsoft keeps their systems running. But if you delete something — or someone deletes it for you — that’s on you. We fix that.
Book a Free Backup Assessment“It’s in the cloud” is not the same as “it’s backed up”
This is one of the most common misunderstandings we see in small businesses. The files are in Microsoft’s cloud, yes. But Microsoft’s job is to keep their infrastructure running — not to recover your data after you (or someone else) deletes it.
Here’s what Microsoft actually does when you delete something:
Deleted email: Sits in your Deleted Items folder, then moves to a recoverable items folder. After 14 to 30 days, it’s gone. Permanently.
Deleted OneDrive or SharePoint files: Go to the Recycle Bin. After 93 days, they’re gone. And if an administrator deletes a SharePoint site — all the files in it disappear with it.
Deleted Teams messages: Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Microsoft has no backup mechanism for Teams chat history.
Microsoft is very clear about this in their own documentation. Their infrastructure is redundant and reliable. But they are not responsible for recovering data that was deleted. That responsibility is yours.
The four ways businesses lose Microsoft 365 data
Most data loss isn’t dramatic. It’s usually one of these:
Accidental deletion. Someone deletes an email thread, a SharePoint folder, or a year of OneDrive files — and doesn’t notice until well after the retention window closes.
Ransomware. Modern ransomware encrypts files on your devices and syncs the encrypted versions to OneDrive and SharePoint automatically. By the time you know something is wrong, the backup copies Microsoft keeps are already overwritten.
A departing employee. You offboard a staff member and delete their Microsoft 365 account. Their email, their OneDrive files, their calendar — all gone. Sometimes permanently, depending on how it was handled.
Malicious deletion. A disgruntled employee — or an attacker with compromised credentials — deletes files intentionally. IT teams are often not notified until it’s too late.
None of these are rare. We’ve helped businesses deal with each of these situations. Sometimes we can recover the data. Sometimes we can’t.
That last part is what this service prevents.
What’s backed up
Your entire Microsoft 365 environment is backed up — automatically, every day, stored independently of Microsoft’s own systems:
| What | What that means |
| Every sent, received, and deleted message in every mailbox | |
| Calendar & Contacts | Appointments, meeting history, and contact records |
| OneDrive | Every file, every version, in every user’s personal drive |
| SharePoint | All document libraries, team sites, and shared folders |
| Microsoft Teams | Files shared in channels; chat backup where available |
Every item is restorable individually — a single email, a specific version of a document, an entire mailbox, or a full account. You don’t have to restore everything to get back one thing.
How the service works
Step 1 — We connect the backup service to your Microsoft 365 tenant.
Takes about 20 minutes and requires your Microsoft 365 admin credentials. Nothing is installed on your computers.
Step 2 — Automated backups run in the background.
You don’t have to do anything. Every mailbox, every file, every day — stored in a separate cloud environment that has nothing to do with Microsoft’s own infrastructure.
Step 3 — When you need something restored, we get it back.
One email from three months ago. A folder that got deleted. A mailbox for a former employee. We can restore a single item or an entire account — going back months or years depending on your plan.
No hardware. No maintenance. No “I hope someone set this up correctly.”
What about stopping attacks in the first place?
Backup is what you reach for after something goes wrong. But there’s a fair question underneath all of this: how do you stop ransomware from reaching your files in the first place?
That’s a separate service — and a separate conversation.
We deploy an EDR agent (Endpoint Detection and Response) on client devices — desktops, notebooks, and servers. It monitors continuously for unusual behaviour: not just known malware signatures, but the kind of lateral movement and file access patterns that signal an attack in progress. When something suspicious happens, it alerts us and can isolate the affected device automatically — before the damage spreads to the rest of your network.
Backup and EDR address different problems. Backup restores what was lost. EDR works to stop the loss from happening. They’re not the same service, they’re not priced together, and not every business needs both at the same time.
But if endpoint protection is something you’re thinking about, we’re happy to have that conversation separately.
Common questions
Isn’t my data already backed up because it’s in the cloud?
No — and this is the one we have to explain most often. Cloud storage means your files are hosted on Microsoft’s servers. Microsoft backs up their servers against hardware failure and data centre outages. They do not maintain independent copies of your data to restore from accidental or malicious deletion. Once the retention window closes, the data is gone from their systems too.
What if someone accidentally deletes an important email from three years ago?
With a backup in place, we can restore it in minutes. Without one, it’s permanently gone — usually long before anyone realizes it’s missing.
What’s the difference between OneDrive sync and a backup?
OneDrive sync mirrors whatever is on your computer to the cloud. If you delete a file on your computer, the sync deletes it from OneDrive too. If ransomware encrypts your files, the encrypted versions sync to OneDrive automatically. Sync is convenient. But it faithfully copies whatever state your files are in — including deleted or corrupted. That’s not a backup.
How far back in time can you go to restore?
Depends on the plan, but typically one year, seven years or longer. We configure retention based on your needs.
How much does it cost?
Pricing is per user per month and scales with the size of your team. Book a call and we’ll give you a straight number based on your specific setup — no surprises.
Find out if your Microsoft 365 data is protected
Most businesses we talk to assume it is. A 20-minute conversation usually reveals otherwise. We’ll look at your current setup, walk you through exactly what is and isn’t protected, and give you an honest recommendation. No obligation, no pressure.