eDiscovery Manager Role for Legal Hold on Mailbox
Your organization uses Microsoft Purview eDiscovery to manage legal holds. A legal hold has been placed on a user’s mailbox, but the user has left the company and their mailbox has been converted to a shared mailbox. You need to ensure that the legal hold remains effective. What should you do?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Verify that the legal hold is still listed in the eDiscovery case for the mailbox.
When a mailbox is converted to a shared mailbox, the legal hold applied via eDiscovery remains in effect and does not need to be recreated. It is important to verify that the hold is still listed in the eDiscovery case. Option A is incorrect because converting back is unnecessary and may lose shared mailbox features. Option B is incorrect because the hold is still active; creating a new hold is redundant. Option D is incorrect because removing and reapplying the hold is not required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Convert the shared mailbox back to a user mailbox to keep the hold.
Why it's wrong here
Reconverting to a user mailbox requires reassigning a licence and restores sign-in, which is unnecessary because holds persist on inactive mailboxes after conversion. Converting back suits scenarios needing the mailbox actively accessed again, not merely preserving held content.
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Create a new legal hold for the shared mailbox.
Why it's wrong here
A new hold cannot target a shared mailbox, because holds are scoped to a user's UPN or a security group; the shared mailbox has no licence-backed user identity to bind to. Creating holds is correct when onboarding a fresh custodian, not when preserving an existing one.
- ✓
Verify that the legal hold is still listed in the eDiscovery case for the mailbox.
Why this is correct
Converting a mailbox to shared does not remove an eDiscovery hold, but the hold must remain associated with the case. Confirming it is still listed verifies the mailbox is still within scope, satisfying the requirement that the legal hold stays effective.
- ✗
Remove the legal hold and reapply it to the shared mailbox.
Why it's wrong here
Removing then reapplying the hold discards the existing hold's preservation history and leaves the mailbox unprotected during the gap, risking spoliation. Reapplying is the right approach only when a hold was genuinely misconfigured or scoped to the wrong custodian from the outset.
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eDiscovery Standard vs Premium
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
Key term
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a unified data governance and compliance service that helps organizations discover, manage, and protect their data across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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