Microsoft 365 Backup

by
Jim Gaynor

by
Jim Gaynor

Jim leads the Directions on Microsoft editorial team and has been writing about technology since the early 1990s. Most recently... more

Microsoft 365 Backup provides backup for Exchange Online mailboxes, OneDrive for work accounts, and SharePoint Online sites to Azure storage using a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model based on the amount of data being protected. It’s focused on protecting customer data from ransomware attacks on Microsoft 365 tenancies and enabling rapid, tenant-wide restoration of protected data while minimizing the risk of lost work. The service differs from the built-in versioning and “recycle bins” offered by SharePoint and other Office services, which are intended for casual undelete/revert of individual items, and also differs from eDiscovery and legal hold features, which let tenants “freeze” and export data but don’t provide data restoration services.

Product: Microsoft 365 Backup

Licensing: Pay as you go

Near-Term Updates and Roadmap (2026)

Recent Updates 

Recent updates to Microsoft 365 Backup in early 2026 include the following:

Granular file and folder restoration. Allows admins to browse and restore individual files and folders for protected SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts, previously limited to restoration of the full site or account. Rollout began in Mar. 2026.