Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Purview is a family of data governance and compliance tools for content in Microsoft 365 and beyond. For document teams, the parts that matter most are retention policies and labels, records management with disposition review, legal holds, eDiscovery and sensitivity labels that control who can open a file.

Retention labels can be applied by users, by default on a library, or automatically based on content. Records marked as such cannot be edited or deleted until their period ends, and disposition reviews let a records manager approve deletion when the time comes.

Licensing decides which features you get, so check that first. Map your retention schedule to labels before turning anything on, test with a small site, and agree with legal on how holds and eDiscovery searches are requested and approved.