What Microsoft Teams's terms say about your data

Who owns the data the customer puts in?

The customer · covers all customer data

1. Headline Every plan covers all customer data

   The customer

   As between the parties, Customer retains all right, title and interest in and to Customer Data and Professional Services Data.

   Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA), English, May 2026 (download from the DPA licensing page) (data processing addendum), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   DPA section "Nature of Data Processing; Ownership". Next sentence: "Microsoft acquires no rights in Customer Data or Professional Services Data, other than the rights Customer grants to Microsoft in this section." The DPA is part of the Product Terms and covers Teams Essentials, Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 Enterprise subscriptions alike.

Does the vendor train AI on it?

Generative: no. Other models: the terms don't say · covers all customer data, Copilot prompts and responses included; all customer data, Teams chats, meetings and files included

1. Headline Every plan covers all customer data, Copilot prompts and responses included

   Generative: no

   Microsoft Generative AI Services will not use Customer Data to train any generative AI foundation model, except pursuant to Customer's documented instructions.

   Microsoft Product Terms: Universal License Terms for Online Services (terms), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Product Terms, Universal License Terms for Online Services, "Use of Content for Training". Exception is only on the customer's documented instructions (no default opt-in or opt-out). Non-generative models: not set; the DPA limits processing to providing the service (which it defines to include "enhancing user productivity, reliability, efficacy, quality, and security") and business operations, and bars use for "market research aimed at creating new functionalities, services, or products", but no read document says whether non-generative models are trained on customer content.

2. Supporting Every plan covers Copilot prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data

   Generative: no

   Prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation LLMs, including those used by Microsoft Copilot.

   Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot (ai policy), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Graph data includes Teams chats and meetings that Copilot reads. The enterprise data protection page says the same for Copilot Chat: "the prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation models".

3. Headline Every plan covers all customer data, Teams chats, meetings and files included

   Other models: the terms don't say

   When providing Products and Services, Microsoft will not use or otherwise process Customer Data, Professional Services Data, or Personal Data for: (a) user profiling, (b) advertising or similar commercial purposes, or (c) market research aimed at creating new functionalities, services, or products or any other purpose, unless such use or processing is in accordance with Customer's documented instructions.

   Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA), English, May 2026 (download from the DPA licensing page) (data processing addendum), read 2026-10-23 · link to this fact

   Second read 2026-10-23 settled the open line: the Microsoft Customer Agreement (read through the page's preview service) has no AI or training terms and leaves Customer Data use to the Product Terms and DPA, so every terms, AI and DPA document is now read and none says whether non-generative models are trained on customer content. The DPA limits use to providing the service, which it defines to include "enhancing user productivity, reliability, efficacy, quality, and security", and to listed business operations.

Does the vendor keep a right to use it aggregated, de-identified or as usage data?

Reserved · covers usage logs and statistics, not content

1. Headline Every plan covers usage logs and statistics, not content

   Reserved

   to create aggregated statistical, non-personal data from data containing pseudonymized identifiers (such as usage logs containing unique, pseudonymized identifiers)

   Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA), English, May 2026 (download from the DPA licensing page) (data processing addendum), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   DPA "Processing for Business Operations": preceded by "Customer authorizes Microsoft:" and followed by "to calculate statistics related to Customer Data", "in each case without accessing or analyzing the content of Customer Data", limited to billing and account management, Microsoft's own sales and partner pay, internal reporting and business modeling (including product strategy), and financial reporting. Narrower than most vendors: no content, no new products.

What can the customer export, and who can run it?

Everything by an admin through the API · covers 1:1, group, meeting and channel messages (attachment info, not the files)

1. Headline Every plan covers 1:1, group, meeting and channel messages (attachment info, not the files)

   Everything by an admin through the API

   Teams Export APIs allow you to export 1:1, group chat, meeting chats, and channel messages from Microsoft Teams.

   Export content with the Microsoft Teams Export APIs (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Microsoft Graph getAllMessages endpoints, JSON. Needs application permissions (Chat.Read.All, ChannelMessage.Read.All): "Only an administrator can approve application permissions." so an admin must consent (an IT step, not vendor approval). License: "organizations must have an active Microsoft Teams license assigned to the users whose data is being exported"; plan coverage (Teams Essentials and Business included) is our reading of that line. Files shared in chats live in OneDrive and SharePoint and are not in this export. No built-in admin-screen export of all chats outside eDiscovery.

2. Detail Every plan covers Teams Export API billing

   Everything by an admin through the API

   Starting August 25, 2025, the Teams APIs are no longer metered, and no billing configuration is required to use these APIs.

   Metered APIs and services in Microsoft Graph (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Earlier the Teams Export APIs were metered (paid per message beyond seeded capacity). The Export API page still mentions an "Evaluation Mode (default)" with limited usage per app when no payment model is declared.

3. Detail Enterprise covers Teams chats and channel messages collected in an eDiscovery search or case

   Everything by an admin through an admin screen

   When you export search results, you download mailbox items in PST files or as individual messages.

   Export search results (Microsoft Purview eDiscovery) (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Microsoft Purview portal, by a user "assigned eDiscovery permissions"; Teams chats can be organized into HTML transcripts; export packages expire after 14 days. Licensing (Get started with eDiscovery): "Both admins and users working with eDiscovery cases require a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license." Which Business plans get eDiscovery export is not clear from the pages read.

How much history does the plan keep?

All of it^* · covers chat and channel messages

1. Headline Every plan covers chat and channel messages

   All of it^*

   Teams supports retention policies for chat and channel messages so that as an admin, you can decide proactively whether to retain this data, delete it, or retain it for a specific period of time and then delete it.

   Manage retention policies for Microsoft Teams (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Reading: no read page sets a time limit on Teams messages; deletion happens only through a retention policy an admin sets (or user and admin deletes). Microsoft Q&A answers quote an older Learn line "By default, Teams chat, channel, and files data are retained indefinitely", but no current Microsoft page we read says it. The Purview page states only that "By default, Teams call logs are retained indefinitely."

2. Detail Every plan covers Teams retention policies (admin-set deletion)

   All of it

   Users who are subject to a retention policy for Teams must have an appropriate license, such as Office 365 E3 or Office 365 A3.

   Manage retention policies for Microsoft Teams (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   So plans without that licensing (likely Teams Essentials, Business Basic and Standard) cannot set Teams retention policies at all and keep messages until users or admins delete them. Exact plan list is in Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance, not read cell by cell.

How long is data kept after the account ends, and can it still be exported?

90 days to export · covers all customer data

1. Headline Every plan covers all customer data

   90 days to export

   Except for free trials and LinkedIn services, Microsoft will retain Customer Data that remains stored in Online Services in a limited function account for 90 days after expiration or termination of Customer's subscription so that Customer may extract the data.

   Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA), English, May 2026 (download from the DPA licensing page) (data processing addendum), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   DPA "Data Retention and Deletion". Next sentence: after the 90 days Microsoft "will disable Customer's account and delete the Customer Data and Personal Data stored in Online Services within an additional 90 days" (so gone by 180 days).

2. Supporting Every plan covers customer data in Microsoft 365

   90 days to export

   If a paid subscription ends or is terminated, Microsoft retains customer data stored in Microsoft 365 in a limited-function account for 90 days to enable the subscriber to extract the data.

   Data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365 (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Same page: "No more than 180 days after expiration or termination of a subscription to Microsoft 365, Microsoft disables the account and deletes all customer data from the account." Free trials: data deleted after a 30-day grace period.

3. Detail Every plan covers Microsoft 365 for business subscriptions

   90 days to export

   Any customer data that you leave behind might be deleted after 90 days and will be deleted no later than 180 days after cancellation.

   What happens to my data and access when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends? (help article), read 2026-10-22 · link to this fact

   Lifecycle Active > Expired > Disabled > Deleted; in Disabled "Data is accessible to admins only". Warning: "If you explicitly delete a subscription, it skips the Expired and Disabled statuses and SharePoint Online data and content, including OneDrive, is immediately deleted."

What the read couldn't settle

• Plans grouped: Teams Essentials; Business = Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard, Premium; Enterprise = Office 365 E1, E3, E5. Free personal Teams out of scope.
• retention is inferred: no current Microsoft page states the default (indefinite) for Teams messages; only Microsoft Q&A answers quote it.
• export: which Business plans get Purview eDiscovery export (eDiscovery page says Enterprise E3 or E5) and whether Export API use needs more than a Teams license were not settled.
• Teams Essentials plan page and Microsoft 365 business compare page return a bot block from this environment; plan contents not checked there.
• Product Terms pages show no last-updated date (version null).
• Microsoft Customer Agreement (msteams-mca): the page is a country picker that needs JavaScript; its text comes from the preview service the page calls (POST /licensing/docs/api/CustomerAgreement/GetPreviewDocument, which returns a short-lived signed .docx link). No fact quotes it, so check-tool-quotes.mjs never needs to fetch it.

Documents

20 of 20 read. Each fact above names the one it comes from.

1. Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA), English, May 2026 (download from the DPA licensing page) Data processing addendum · version 2026-05-22 · read 2026-10-22
2. Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA) licensing page Data processing addendum · read 2026-10-22
3. Microsoft Product Terms: Universal License Terms for Online Services Terms · read 2026-10-22
4. Microsoft Product Terms: Privacy & Security Terms Terms · read 2026-10-22
5. Microsoft Customer Agreement (United States, English, Enterprise Customer; text read as the .docx the page's preview service returns) Terms · read 2026-10-23
6. Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot AI policy · version 2026-08-18 · read 2026-10-22
7. Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat AI policy · version 2026-08-18 · read 2026-10-22
8. Data management at Microsoft (Trust Center) Privacy policy · read 2026-10-22
9. Microsoft Privacy Statement Privacy policy · version 2026-09 · read 2026-10-22
10. Data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365 Help article · version 2025-09-29 · read 2026-10-22
11. What happens to my data and access when my Microsoft 365 for business subscription ends? Help article · version 2026-06-08 · read 2026-10-22
12. Export content with the Microsoft Teams Export APIs Help article · version 2026-07-20 · read 2026-10-22
13. Metered APIs and services in Microsoft Graph Help article · version 2026-04-03 · read 2026-10-22
14. Manage retention policies for Microsoft Teams Help article · version 2026-08-31 · read 2026-10-22
15. Learn about retention for Microsoft Teams Help article · version 2026-06-03 · read 2026-10-22
16. eDiscovery (Premium) workflow for content in Microsoft Teams Help article · version 2024-10-31 · read 2026-10-22
17. Export search results (Microsoft Purview eDiscovery) Help article · version 2026-06-23 · read 2026-10-22
18. Get started with eDiscovery Help article · version 2026-04-01 · read 2026-10-22
19. Microsoft Purview service description (licensing guidance) Plans page · version 2026-08-03 · read 2026-10-22
20. Microsoft Teams Essentials Plans page · read 2026-10-22 · couldn't be reached