Deleted Files in the Cloud: How Long They Are Kept and Why That Isn't Enough

Many small businesses share the belief that if files and email are in the cloud, they are protected and there is no risk of loss. This is partly true, since the service itself runs reliably. However, if an employee accidentally deletes a folder, or the files are encrypted by a virus, it is not always possible to get everything back. In this article we look in simple terms at how long deleted data is kept on two popular platforms and how to plan additional protection.

Microsoft 365: What the Retention Periods Are

According to Microsoft's official page, items deleted in SharePoint are kept in the recycle bin for a certain period. For SharePoint, the retention period is 93 days, and the count starts from the moment you delete the item from its original location. If you also delete the item from the site's recycle bin, it moves to the site collection recycle bin, where it stays for the remainder of the 93 days and is then permanently deleted. That is, 93 days is the total period, and no new count begins. This matters because files shared in Teams also rely on this mechanism.

With email, the situation is stricter. According to Microsoft Learn documentation, the default retention period for deleted items in Exchange Online is 14 days. An administrator can extend this period to a maximum of 30 days. To recover an item, a user can use the Recover Deleted Items feature in Outlook or Outlook on the web. After the period expires, the item is deleted from the system.

Google Workspace: What the Retention Periods Are

The Google Workspace help page states that an administrator can restore items deleted from Drive within 25 days of the moment the user emptied the trash; after that, Google deletes them from its systems and recovery is impossible. There is also one practical detail: a restore brings back all files deleted within the selected date range, and restoring an individual file or folder is not possible. That is why it is useful to ask the user roughly when they deleted the file. If a user's account was deleted, the files in their Drive can be restored within 20 days of the account's deletion.

Why This Is Not a Full Backup

What we have described is convenient protection against accidental deletion, but it cannot replace a full backup. There are several reasons for this:

• The periods are limited. If you notice a deletion after 2-3 months, recovery by standard means may no longer be possible. For email, this period is much shorter.
• Synchronization is not a backup. If a folder on your computer is synchronized with the cloud, a deletion, or a new version of a damaged file, is automatically passed on to all devices.
• One account, one weak point. If a fraudster steals a user's password, they can delete data with the same access.
• Some items cannot be restored. For example, Google's restore rules state directly that data in a user's trash will not be restored this way.

That is why it is worth planning a separate, independent backup.

The 3-2-1 Rule in Simple Terms

The US cybersecurity agency CISA offers small and medium-sized businesses the simplest rule for backup. The 3-2-1 rule means: 3 copies of important files, stored on 2 different types of media (for example, a hard drive and the cloud), with 1 copy kept away from the office. The same page emphasizes that the backup solution should work automatically and regularly, because regular backups protect us from ransomware and malware attacks.

In practice, it might look like this: the first copy is your working data in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, the second copy is in a separate, independent backup service, and the third is on a drive kept outside the office or offline. The main thing is that the copies are truly independent of one another, so that a single mistake or a single compromised account cannot damage them all at once.

A Short Checklist

• Write down which data is critical for you: email, contracts, accounting files, the customer database.
• Determine who stores this data and where: on a personal computer, in OneDrive, in SharePoint, in Drive or in email.
• Write down the periods described above and make your employees aware of them. They should report a deleted file to the administrator immediately.
• Choose an automatic backup solution and make sure one copy is stored in a different location.
• Protect backup accounts with two-step sign-in and a strong password, and grant administrator rights only to the people who need them.
• From time to time, try a real restore: bringing back a single file or folder. A backup that you have never tried restoring from is only an assumption.

One last piece of advice: don't wait for a loss to plan your backup. The windows for recovering a deleted file are often shorter than we think, so a plan prepared in advance saves us time and nerves.

If you would like to review your data protection plan together, Appy.ge, a Georgian IT company and an official Microsoft CSP partner that also helps with Google Workspace setup, will be happy to offer you a consultation.

Sources:
• Back Up Business Data (CISA) - https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/small-and-medium-businesses/secure-your-business/back-up-business-data
• Restore items in the recycle bin that were deleted from SharePoint or Teams (Microsoft Support) - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore-items-in-the-recycle-bin-that-were-deleted-from-sharepoint-or-teams-6df466b6-55f2-4898-8d6e-c0dff851a0be
• Recoverable Items folder in Exchange Online (Microsoft Learn) - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/recoverable-items-folder/recoverable-items-folder
• Recover deleted files and folders for Drive users (Google Workspace Help) - https://support.google.com/a/answer/6052340?hl=en