Full Guide: eDiscovery (Standard) — How to Collect & Download Microsoft 365 Data Quickly
- Hanna Korotka
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
When an attorney, HR manager, or regulator demands evidence, you can’t afford a scavenger hunt. This eDiscovery (Standard) full guide walks you through the exact clicks to create a case, lock data in place, search mailboxes or Teams chats, and export the results—no extra software.
Why have an eDiscovery (Standard) case ready?
One subpoena or employee dispute can impose a 14-day production deadline. With a pre-tested eDiscovery (Standard) workflow you can:
Preserve content instantly with in-place holds, preventing deletion or edits.
Search across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams in a single pane.
Export results to PST or native files that legal counsel can review right away.
Set-up checklist
Roles: Add yourself to eDiscovery Manager role. How configure permissions for eDiscovery, see Assign eDiscovery permissions.
Export Tool prerequisites: Windows (32-bit or 64-bit), Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 or higher, you have to use Microsoft Edge to run the eDiscovery Export Tool.
Step-by-step walkthrough
1 - Create the case
Go to Purview portal > eDiscovery > Cases.
Click Create case, enter name & description, Create.
Mentor tip: Use a naming pattern like 2025-08-ClientName-Inquiry so everyone can find the case later.
2 - Search for content
Inside the case, choose Searches tab > Create a search.
In Data sources select Add sources (mailboxes, SharePoint sites, Teams, etc.). Add people, groups, SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts, and Microsoft Teams as sources. To search for a person, group, or team, enter a name, alias, email address or Exchange GUID. For SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts, enter a URL or name. Use “;” to separate multiple inputs.
In a search query, you can narrow your search by adding keywords, setting date ranges (sent, received, or last-modified), or even targeting file names. Need precision? Combine terms with AND, OR, NOT, or NEAR for advanced queries. Leave the keyword field blank and eDiscovery will pull everything from the locations you selected. Learn more about condition builder and learn more about keyword query language.
Select Run query.
Preview hits and refine until the result set is as tight as possible (under three million items keeps exports smooth).
3 - Export & download
Go to the Microsoft Purview portal.
In the left navigation pane, select Solutions, then go to eDiscovery > Cases, and open your case.
Select the necessary search and click Export button.
Adjust export properties and hit Export. You can monitor the export's progress and download the results from the Process manager page.
Once the export is complete, and proceed with the download (Cases > open open your case > within the case, select the Exports tab > choose the desired export and download.).
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