How to Restrict Users From Viewing M365 Emails Before Recovery

Product version: 11.0

Last modified: 28 April 2025

Question

How can I prevent users from viewing M365 emails before recovery? I need to ensure confidentiality.

Answer

To configure restricted access for mailbox recovery:

1. Navigate to Settings > General > Users & Roles > Roles, click the plus button and select Add role.

2. Enter the Role name and Description, and click Next.

3. Open the Jobs tab and select Custom for the following permissions to enable their editing:

   • All

   • Recovery

   • Object recovery for Microsoft 365

4. Under the Recovery > Object recovery for Microsoft 365 section, set the View message content permission to No access.

5. Click Finish.

   

6. Assign this role to specific users so they cannot view the content of mailbox messages during recovery. As a result, users with the role can see the email list, but cannot open the email contents during recovery.