eDiscovery
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery gives organizations an end-to-end workflow for finding, preserving, and reviewing content in response to a legal or regulatory investigation. It is available in two tiers, Standard and Premium, allowing organizations to match the depth of their eDiscovery capability to the complexity of the legal matters they handle. Below is an overview of what each includes and the value it delivers.
eDiscovery (Standard)
Designed for: Organizations that need core capabilities to search, hold, and export content for a legal or investigative matter.
What's Included
- Case management for organizing and tracking individual legal or investigative matters
- Legal hold, preserving relevant content so it can't be altered or deleted while an investigation is active
- Content search across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams
- The ability to export search results for further review
Why It Matters for Your Business
eDiscovery Standard gives an organization the essential tools to respond to a legal hold request or internal investigation without scrambling to piece together information manually across different systems. Legal hold ensures relevant emails, documents, and messages are preserved the moment a matter arises, protecting the organization from the serious consequences of accidentally destroying evidence relevant to an investigation. For organizations that face occasional, more straightforward legal or compliance requests, Standard often provides everything needed to respond confidently and defensibly.
eDiscovery (Premium)
Designed for: Organizations that regularly manage complex investigations or litigation and need a complete review and analysis workflow.
What's Included
- Everything in eDiscovery Standard, plus:
- Custodian management, tracking legal hold notifications and acknowledgments for every individual involved in a matter
- Advanced review sets, with tools to tag, filter, and organize large volumes of content for legal review
- Analytics capabilities, including near-duplicate detection, email threading, and predictive coding, to reduce the volume of content that needs manual review
- The ability to review Microsoft 365 Copilot prompts and responses as part of an investigation
- Direct escalation from an Insider Risk Management case into a new eDiscovery Premium case for further legal review
- Export directly to leading third-party legal review platforms
Why It Matters for Your Business
eDiscovery Premium is built for organizations that handle litigation or complex investigations often enough that manual, ad hoc processes become both risky and expensive. Custodian management provides the documented chain of legal hold acknowledgments that courts often expect to see, an important safeguard against claims that relevant evidence wasn't properly preserved. Analytics tools like predictive coding and email threading can dramatically reduce how much content actually needs manual attorney review, often cutting review time and cost substantially compared to reviewing every document individually. For organizations already using Insider Risk Management, the ability to escalate a case directly into eDiscovery Premium also creates a smoother, more connected path from an internal risk investigation to a formal legal review, when one becomes necessary.
Please Note
Basic eDiscovery capabilities equivalent to the Standard tier are included with most Microsoft 365 plans, including Business Premium and E3. eDiscovery Premium requires Microsoft 365 E5, or can be added to Business Premium or E3 through the Purview Suite or a more targeted eDiscovery and Audit add-on. Licensing for Premium is based on the individuals whose data is involved in a case (custodians), not on every user in the organization. Our team can help identify the most cost-effective path for your organization's specific needs.
Summary
- eDiscovery (Standard) — core case management, legal hold, search, and export, included with most Microsoft 365 plans.
- eDiscovery (Premium) — a complete review and analysis workflow with custodian management, advanced analytics, and direct integration with Insider Risk Management.
Organizations facing occasional, straightforward requests are often well served by the Standard tier already included in their subscription, while organizations managing frequent or complex litigation benefit from the deeper workflow and analytics Premium provides.
Have Questions? We're Here to Help.
Our team can help you identify the plan that best matches your organization's needs and guide you through setup.