Transferring files when someone leaves in Microsoft 365

How to safely transfer a departing employee's OneDrive files and email to another person before deleting their Microsoft 365 account.

When someone leaves your organization, their Microsoft 365 account holds email, files, and calendar data that your business may need. Before you delete their account, you need to transfer or preserve this data.

Quick summary

Move the files you need out of the leaver's OneDrive first. Then, on the Delete user page in the Microsoft 365 admin center, choose to give another person access to their OneDrive content and their email — giving someone access to the email turns the mailbox into a shared mailbox. If instead you convert the mailbox or set up forwarding by hand, don't delete the account afterwards: those two things need the account to stay there.

What you'll need

Admin access to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Microsoft lists User Administrator (or Microsoft 365 Backup Administrator) for these tasks, and you need to be a User Administrator to delete an account at all
The name of the person who will receive the files

Step 1: Access the leaver's OneDrive before deleting

As an admin, you can access a user's OneDrive at any time — even before deleting the account:

Sign in to the admin center at admin.microsoft.com.

Go to Users → Active users and click the leaver's name.

Select the OneDrive tab on their user properties page.

Under "Get access to files", select Create link to files. Select the link to open their OneDrive, then download what you need, or use Move to or Copy to to move files into your own OneDrive or a shared library.

Moving a file only brings the latest version

Microsoft's note on this: "When you move or copy documents that have version history, only the latest version is moved." If older versions matter, keep the original in place until you're sure.

Step 2: Transfer their OneDrive files when deleting

You can also hand the files to a colleague as part of the deletion:

Go to Users → Active users, select the leaver, and choose Delete user.

On the Delete user page, choose what to do with their licence, their email and their OneDrive content. If they saved files to OneDrive, you can give another user access to them here.

Search for and select the recipient — the person who should get the files.

Select Delete user. Tell the recipient to move the files somewhere permanent rather than leaving them where they are.

Act inside the retention window

The default retention period for a deleted user's OneDrive is 30 days. Move what you need inside it. Microsoft's own words on what happens next: the deleted user's OneDrive "is moved to the site collection recycle bin, where it's kept for 93 days", nobody can reach anything that was shared from it during that time, and restoring it needs PowerShell. Treat that as a last resort rather than a plan. An admin can extend the 30-day retention before you start.

Files already synced to their own computer

Microsoft is blunt about this one: if the leaver used a personal computer to download files from SharePoint and OneDrive, there is no way for you to wipe those copies. Handle that with your offboarding process, not with the admin center.

Step 3: Handle their email

You have three main options for the leaver's email.

Option A: Hand the email over as part of the deletion (simplest)

On the Delete user page, choose to give another user access to the deleted user's email. That converts the mailbox into a shared mailbox, so the new owner can read the history and watch for new mail. While you're there you can also rename it (so it's easy to spot in the Active users list), turn on automatic replies, and clear out any aliases you want to reuse.

A shared mailbox doesn't need a licence as long as it stays under 50 GB. Above that, you have to assign one.

Option B: Convert the mailbox by hand, and keep the account

You can convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox without deleting the account. If you do, leave the account in place — Microsoft's own warning is that a converted shared mailbox and email forwarding both still need the account to anchor them. You can stop paying for the licence on a converted shared mailbox; you can't remove the licence if you've set up forwarding, because that deactivates the mailbox.

Then add the right people to the shared mailbox from Teams and groups → Shared mailboxes so they can get at the history.

Option C: Forward their email to a colleague

Go to Users → Active users, select the leaver, open the Mail tab, and under Email Forwarding select Manage email forwarding. Choose Forward all emails sent to this mailbox, enter the colleague's address, and decide whether to keep a copy in the original mailbox.

Forwarding only sends on new mail — it doesn't give anyone the existing history. And again: don't delete the account afterwards.

Neither works on a mailbox held for compliance

Microsoft: "In scenarios where the mailbox is inactive due to compliance reasons, mail forwarding or converting the mailbox to a shared mailbox doesn't work." If a legal hold is in play, talk to us first.

Step 4: Review other shared resources

Before deleting the account, check:

Teams channels — remove them from any relevant channels so notifications stop
SharePoint sites — check if they were a site owner, and reassign ownership if so. You don't need to move their SharePoint files: those stay where they are and you keep access
Distribution groups — see Distribution groups & lists to remove them
Calendar events — cancel the meetings they organised. Microsoft specifically flags this: any rooms or equipment those meetings booked stay blocked until the meetings are cancelled

After deletion

Once you've completed the steps above and deleted the account:

You have 30 days to restore the account before the user's data is permanently deleted
A deleted mailbox is recoverable for 30 days by default, so their email address can't be reused until that passes (unless you removed the aliases first)
Deleting the account doesn't stop the bill. Removing licences is a separate step, under Billing → Your products → Remove licenses

Don't count on getting it back after 30 days

After 30 days the deleted account and its data are gone. The OneDrive itself moves to the site collection recycle bin for a further 93 days, but nothing shared from it works any more and getting it back needs PowerShell. Set a reminder and check everything you need has been moved inside the 30 days.

Common questions

The person has already left and we deleted their account. Can we still get their files?

If it's been less than 30 days, go to Users → Deleted users in the admin center, select the person and select Restore user. Microsoft's wording: "When you restore a user account within 30 days of deleting it, the account and all associated data are restored." Get the files out, then delete again. If the account isn't listed any more, too much time has passed — Microsoft points you at their support team at that point.

What happens to emails sent to their address after deletion?

Microsoft's own wording: "Deleting a former employee's account stops email messages sent to that account from being received." Converting the mailbox to a shared mailbox, or setting up forwarding, keeps the address working — but both need the account left in place.

What if we need their files for legal or compliance reasons?

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery lets an admin put a hold on content in Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts and Teams, so it can't be deleted while the hold is on. What you get depends on your plan and licences — Microsoft says the licensing requirements vary by capability and configuration, so don't assume it's included. Talk to us before you rely on it.

This is general information, not legal advice.

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