The answer is eDiscovery (Standard). This Microsoft Purview solution is correct because it allows you to place a legal hold on content in Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Teams, preventing deletion or modification while litigation is pending. It also provides built-in capabilities to search across these locations for specific keywords and export the results for external review, directly fulfilling the need to preserve and search content for litigation. On the SC-900 exam, this question tests your understanding of the core eDiscovery workflow—hold, search, and export—versus more advanced tools like eDiscovery (Premium), which adds analytics and review sets. A common trap is confusing eDiscovery (Standard) with Audit or Data Lifecycle Management; remember that only eDiscovery includes legal hold and export for external review. Memory tip: think of eDiscovery (Standard) as the "hold, search, and ship" tool for litigation readiness.
SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions
This SC-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe the capabilities of microsoft compliance solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A legal department is preparing for litigation. They need to preserve all potentially relevant content in Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Teams to prevent deletion or modification. Additionally, they must search across these locations for specific keywords and export the results for external review. Which Microsoft Purview solution should they use?
eDiscovery (Standard) allows legal hold, search, and export of content across Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and more for legal cases.
B
Audit (Standard)
Why wrong: Audit (Standard) records user and admin activities in the unified audit log but does not hold content or enable keyword search and export for legal preservation.
C
Data Lifecycle Management
Why wrong: Data Lifecycle Management (retention policies and labels) manages data retention and deletion, not legal holds or search for discovery.
D
Communication Compliance
Why wrong: Communication Compliance policies detect inappropriate business communications, not preserve content for litigation.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
eDiscovery (Standard)
eDiscovery (Standard) is the correct solution because it provides the capabilities to place Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Teams content on legal hold to preserve it from deletion or modification, and it includes built-in search and export functions for litigation. This solution directly addresses the requirements for preservation, keyword search across multiple workloads, and export for external review.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
eDiscovery (Standard)
Why this is correct
eDiscovery (Standard) allows legal hold, search, and export of content across Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and more for legal cases.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Audit (Standard)
Why it's wrong here
Audit (Standard) records user and admin activities in the unified audit log but does not hold content or enable keyword search and export for legal preservation.
✗
Data Lifecycle Management
Why it's wrong here
Data Lifecycle Management (retention policies and labels) manages data retention and deletion, not legal holds or search for discovery.
✗
Communication Compliance
Why it's wrong here
Communication Compliance policies detect inappropriate business communications, not preserve content for litigation.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Audit (Standard) with eDiscovery because both are in the Purview compliance portal, but Audit only records events while eDiscovery provides the legal hold, search, and export actions required for litigation.
Trap categories for this question
Keyword trap
Audit (Standard) records user and admin activities in the unified audit log but does not hold content or enable keyword search and export for legal preservation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
eDiscovery (Standard) uses in-place holds via the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, which leverages the Exchange Online mailbox hold and SharePoint preservation hold library to protect content. When a hold is applied to a Teams channel, the underlying Exchange mailbox and SharePoint site are both placed on hold, ensuring that all messages and files are preserved. The search feature uses a KQL-based query engine that can target specific keywords across all indexed content in Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams, and the export function packages results into PST files or native formats for external review.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this SC-900 question in full detail.
Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions — This question tests Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: eDiscovery (Standard) — eDiscovery (Standard) is the correct solution because it provides the capabilities to place Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Teams content on legal hold to preserve it from deletion or modification, and it includes built-in search and export functions for litigation. This solution directly addresses the requirements for preservation, keyword search across multiple workloads, and export for external review.
What should I do if I get this SC-900 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A legal team needs to preserve all electronic documents related to an ongoing lawsuit. These documents reside in Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online sites, and OneDrive for Business accounts. The team also needs the ability to search across these locations for specific keywords and export the results for review. Which Microsoft Purview solution should they use?
medium
✓ A.Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium)
B.Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management
C.Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention
D.Microsoft Purview Audit
Why A: Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium) is the correct solution because it provides end-to-end workflow for preserving, searching, and exporting content from Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online sites, and OneDrive for Business accounts. It supports legal hold to preserve data, keyword search across these sources, and export of results for review, meeting all requirements of the legal team.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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This SC-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SC-900 exam.
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