Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management - Graph API Support for archive mailboxes
🚨 The Signal: Microsoft is retiring Exchange Web Services (EWS) for archive mailboxes by April 2027. Organizations must migrate any applications, scripts, or third-party solutions using EWS for archive data to Microsoft Graph APIs to maintain access and compliance.
The Impact
Organizations with custom or third-party solutions accessing archive mailboxes via EWS are at risk of losing data access and compliance capabilities.
- eDiscovery solutions: Risk of losing access to critical archived data for legal holds.
- Compliance workflows: Inability to retrieve data for regulatory compliance and audits.
- Backup/export tools: Potential failure to backup or export archive mailbox content.
- Custom applications: Loss of functionality for applications relying on EWS archive access.
The Action
- Identify all applications, scripts, and third-party solutions currently using EWS to access Exchange Online archive mailboxes.
- Review vendor roadmaps for third-party solutions to confirm their migration to Microsoft Graph APIs for archive mailbox support.
- Plan and execute migration of custom applications and scripts from EWS to Microsoft Graph APIs for archive mailbox data access.
- Test all migrated solutions thoroughly to ensure continued access to archive mailboxes, including auto-expanding archives.
- Monitor Microsoft communications for any updates regarding the EWS retirement timeline and Graph API capabilities.
Domain: Exchange · Impact: high · Workload: Exchange Online · Essential Eight: Regular Backups · ISM: ISM-1511, ISM-1515, ISM-1705, ISM-1706, ISM-1707, ISM-1708, ISM-1810, ISM-1811, ISM-1812, ISM-1813, ISM-1814