On This Page
Account Specific Data Lifecycles
Access to UW Office 365 is contingent upon an active affiliation with the University of Washington. Upon departure from the UW, a UW Office 365 account and data associated with a UW NetID will be deleted according to the following timelines.
Please note: This includes installations of UW Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus, which will be deactivated when the UW Office 365 account associated with the ProPlus installation is suspended.
The deletion timelines below are guidelines. Other circumstances and affiliations may alter these timelines. In the case of a legal hold or an additional affiliation that grants access to UW Office 365, an account may not follow these timelines. In the case of additional affiliations, the longest deletion timeline will apply.
Under some circumstances, eDiscovery copies of data may be held in account’s Exchange Online mailbox or OneDrive for Business for indefinite periods of time due to legal, compliance, or administrative reasons. This eDiscovery data may not be visible to any end users and may only be available via the UW Account Access Request Process or Office of Information Security investigations.
UW Students
UW student UW NetIDs receive default access to UW Office 365. During the third week of the second consecutive quarter* in which an individual is not registered as a student, they will receive an email notification stating that computing services for their UW NetID, including their UW Office 365 account, will expire in 14 days and subsequently be deleted.
*Please note: Summer quarter is excluded. For example, a student who is not enrolled Spring quarter will not receive an email notification regarding expiring computing services unless they also do not enroll for Autumn quarter the following school year.
Day 0: 10th day of second consecutive quarter not enrolled, email notification is sent stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 14: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 44: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
UW Employees
UW employee UW NetIDs receive default access to UW Office 365. Three days after an employee’s last day at UW, the employee will receive an email notification stating that their computing services, including their UW Office 365 account, will expire in 14 days and subsequently be deleted.
Day 0: Last day at UW**
Day 3: Email notification is sent stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 17: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 47: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
**Please note: UW NetIDs that have been disabled due to administrative action skip the 17-day waiting period and proceed directly to UW Office 365 account suspension.
Affiliate UW NetIDs
Some UW NetIDs do not have default access to UW Office 365. A UW employee can use the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) to provision access to these UW NetIDs. A provision lasts for 365 days and must be renewed annually. If the provision is revoked or allowed to expire, the deletion process (below) begins. Additionally, if the UW employee who provisioned access to UW Office 365 departs the UW and a new UW employee does not provision continued access to UW Office 365 to the provisionee, the provisionee’s UW Office 365 account will be deleted according to the following timeline.
Day 0: Provisioner’s (employee’s) last day at UW
Day 3: Email notification is sent to provisionee stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 17: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 47: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
Shared UW NetIDs
Shared UW NetIDs do not have default access to UW Office 365. A UW employee can use the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) to provision access to UW Office 365 for Shared UW NetIDs they own. A provision lasts for 365 days and must be renewed annually. If the provision is revoked or allowed to expire, the deletion process (below) begins. Additionally, when a UW employee departs the UW, a new owner must take ownership of the Shared UW NetID and use the PRT to provision continued access to UW Office 365 for the Shared UW NetID. If they do not, the Shared UW NetID’s UW Office 365 account will be deleted according to the following timeline.
Day 0: Shared UW NetID owner’s last day at UW
Day 3: Email notification sent to owner and administrator(s) of Shared UW NetID stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 17: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 47: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
Admin UW NetIDs
Admin UW NetIDs do not have default access to UW Office 365. A UW employee can use the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) to provision access to UW Office 365 for Admin UW NetIDs they own. A provision lasts for 365 days and must be renewed annually. If the provision is revoked or allowed to expire, the deletion process (below) begins. Additionally, when a UW employee departs the UW, their Admin UW NetID’s UW Office 365 account will be deleted according to the following timeline.
Day 0: Admin UW NetID owner’s last day at UW
Day 3: Email notification sent to owner of Admin UW NetID stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 17: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 47: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
UW Medicine Workforce Members
The personal UW NetID of an individual who has UW Medicine Workforce status has default access to UW Office 365. Starting the day UW Medicine Workforce status is removed, the individual’s personal UW NetID’s UW Office 365 account will be deleted according to the following timeline, assuming the personal UW NetID is not receiving access to UW Office 365 via other affiliations with the UW or the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT).
Day 0: Loss of UW Medicine Workforce status, which generates an email notification stating that computing services expire in 14 days
Day 14: UW Office 365 account is suspended and no longer accessible
Day 44: UW Office 365 account is permanently deleted
Collaboration services
UW Office 365 collaboration service resources – a Microsoft team, a SharePoint Online site, a Microsoft 365 Group – are subject to deletion when they no longer have a UW employee’s UW Office 365 identity as an owner. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that more than one UW employee is assigned as owner to every resource.
Microsoft Teams chat messages
On May 1, 2024, UW implemented a 30-day retention policy for Microsoft Teams chat messages which deletes all chat messages after 30 days.
Microsoft Teams instance
Please review the Microsoft Teams page for more information on a Microsoft Teams instance (aka “a team”). The Responsibilities of the owner of a Microsoft team also provides key information. Additionally, to quickly identify the owner(s) of a Microsoft team, launch Microsoft Teams, locate the team’s name in the left panel (expand if collapsed), click the triple dots menu and select Manage Team.
Special Note on Account Suspensions and Microsoft Teams:
When a UW Office 365 account is suspended, Microsoft will automatically remove the account, be it an owner or member, from all Microsoft teams and private channels of a team. If the account is re-enabled, team membership may return automatically, but private channel ownership roles will not be.
It is therefore extremely important that multiple UW employees be designated as an owner for all teams and private channels. Otherwise, the data may become orphaned and subject to deletion per our team deletion policy.
SharePoint Online site
Please review the SharePoint Online page for more information on requirements involved in managing and administrating content, and in particular, Managing access to the site, and Microsoft’s support page on understanding Permission levels in SharePoint.
Microsoft 365 Groups
Please review the Microsoft 365 Groups page for more information, specifically, Responsibilities of the owner of a Microsoft 365 Group, and Microsoft’s support page for an Overview of Microsoft 365 Groups for administrators.