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I want to extract data from Microsoft 365.

Anonymous
2026-03-24T03:59:54.31+00:00

We are recognized as an educational organization. After deleting all users, licenses, and subscriptions in order to remove the tenant, we noticed that one user had not retrieved their data. While we were able to restore the user, Office 365 A1 for faculty had already been deleted, and we cannot find a way to access the data they had saved again.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | Other
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  1. Darren-Ng 10,455 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-24T05:20:47.2066667+00:00

    Dear @石口淳美,

    Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

    Based on your description, after deleting all users, licenses, and subscriptions to remove the Microsoft 365 EDU tenant, one restored user was unable to access their data because the Office 365 A1 for Faculty license had already been deleted, and the previously saved data can no longer be accessed.

    For better understanding your situation, could you let us know how long was the data deleted?

    Have you checked the missing data stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, or both?

    Once a Microsoft 365 user’s license and tenant subscriptions are removed, their OneDrive and SharePoint data is retained only for a limited period (30 days). Although the user account was restored, the Office 365 A1 license had already been deleted, and the associated data was permanently removed according to Microsoft retention rules. After this point, neither administrators nor Microsoft Support are able to recover the data.

    In the meantime, I recommend you use Content Search to check whether the data still exists or not as soon as possible

    You can refer to this link Getting started with the new Purview Content Search

    If the data was deleted beyond the retention period, it cannot be restored.

    I hope you can resolve the issue with information above. Looking forward to your update.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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  2. Anonymous
    2026-03-24T04:37:02.4466667+00:00

    **Thank you.**I understood a little.

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  3. AI answer

    2026-03-24T04:00:11.13+00:00

    Because the tenant’s licenses and subscriptions were removed, access to that user’s data depends on what exactly was deleted and when.

    Key points from the service behavior:

    1. User deletion vs. license removal
      • Deleting a user account starts a 30‑day soft‑delete period. Within those 30 days, restoring the user restores the account and “all associated data,” including the mailbox and OneDrive, as long as the underlying service data has not been purged yet.
      • Removing a license from a user does not immediately delete OneDrive files, but it does start a 30‑day grace period for Exchange Online mailbox data. After that, mailbox data is deleted and cannot be recovered (except where inactive mailboxes are used in certain enterprise plans).
    2. What happens when the user is restored
      • If the user was deleted less than 30 days ago and is restored in the Microsoft 365 admin center, the account and associated data are restored, and the user can sign in again with the same account. Their mailbox is fully restored in that scenario.
      • If the user is restored but the original license SKU (for example, Office 365 A1 for faculty) no longer exists in the tenant, another suitable license that provides Exchange Online and OneDrive for Business must be assigned to re‑enable access to mailbox and OneDrive. Without an active license, the user cannot access the services even if some data still exists in the backend.
    3. OneDrive data specifically
      • OneDrive content is not deleted just because a license is removed; it is deleted when the user account is deleted and the OneDrive retention period for deleted users expires. By default, there is a 30‑day window after user deletion to access or preserve OneDrive content.
      • If the user was deleted more than 30 days ago and the OneDrive retention period has passed, the OneDrive content is deleted and cannot be recovered natively.
      • If the user no longer appears in the Microsoft 365 admin center but the OneDrive site still exists in the SharePoint “deleted sites” list, a SharePoint administrator can restore the OneDrive using PowerShell (Get-SPODeletedSite and Restore-SPODeletedSite) and then assign an admin to that OneDrive to extract the data.
    4. Practical options in this scenario
      • If the user was deleted less than 30 days ago:
        1. Confirm the user has been restored in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
        2. Assign a new license that includes Exchange Online and OneDrive for Business (for example, another education SKU that is still available in the tenant).
        3. Once licensed, the user should be able to sign in and access mailbox and OneDrive again, assuming the data has not been purged.
      • If the user was deleted more than 30 days ago:
        • The user object may still be restorable in Entra ID (Azure AD) via PowerShell, but:
          • Exchange Online mailbox data is typically deleted after the 30‑day grace period if no inactive mailbox configuration exists.
          • OneDrive content is deleted once the OneDrive retention period for deleted users expires. If the OneDrive site is no longer available in Get-SPODeletedSite, there is no native recovery.
      • If the tenant itself is being deprovisioned or has already passed its own retention windows, there is no Microsoft 365 native method to recover data.

    Given that the Office 365 A1 for faculty subscription has been deleted from the tenant, the only way to regain access to the user’s data (if it still exists) is:

    1. Ensure the user account is restored (within 30 days of deletion).
    2. Assign a different, currently available license that includes Exchange Online and OneDrive.
    3. If OneDrive does not appear, a SharePoint admin can check for the user’s OneDrive in the deleted sites list and restore it via PowerShell, then grant an admin access to copy out the data.

    If the relevant retention periods (30 days for user/Exchange data and the configured OneDrive retention for deleted users) have already expired, or if the tenant is beyond its own retention window, there is no built‑in Microsoft 365 mechanism to recover that user’s data.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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