IronSights

Compliance & governance

Legal hold

A directive to preserve all electronically stored information relevant to an anticipated or ongoing legal matter, preventing its deletion or alteration until the hold is lifted.

Also known aslitigation holdpreservation hold

In plain English

A legal hold freezes specific data in place — even if normal retention policies would delete it — to ensure it's available for legal proceedings. In Microsoft Purview, a legal hold can be applied to a specific user's mailbox and SharePoint content, preserving everything they send, receive, and save for the duration of the matter.

Keep learning

More terms in the IronSights Glossary.