Do Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace back up your data?
Only for a short time. By default you have 93 days at most in Microsoft 365, and 55 days at most in Google Workspace, to recover deleted email and files. The NCSC’s advice is to keep an independent copy in another safe place or service, rather than relying only on a cloud service’s previous versions and deleted-file copies.
Microsoft 365 (Office 365)
Microsoft’s shared responsibility model says that for every type of cloud service, Microsoft 365 included, you own your data and you’re responsible for protecting it. An email deleted from Deleted Items can be recovered for 14 days by default, and a file deleted from SharePoint or OneDrive for 93 days. Our guide Does Microsoft back up Microsoft 365? covers Microsoft’s own paid backup product, and managed Microsoft 365 backup shows what we protect.
Google Workspace
Deleted Drive files stay in the trash for up to 30 days, and Gmail messages for 30 days. An admin then has 25 more days to restore them. A deleted user can be restored for 20 days. Google’s Vault FAQ says Vault isn’t designed to be a backup or archive tool. Our guide Is Google Vault a backup? explains the difference, and managed Google Workspace backup shows what we protect.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has limits too. Intuit’s Online Backup and Restore app is for QuickBooks Online Advanced, and it restores only to within one previous calendar year. On other plans, Intuit’s export tool gives you local copies of reports and lists, and Intuit points to third-party apps for backup. See our guide to backing up QuickBooks Online, and managed QuickBooks Online backup.
What you can get back without a backup
These are the main built-in recovery windows, with the page each figure comes from, checked on 3 November 2026.
| What’s lost | How long you can get it back | Source |
|---|---|---|
| An email deleted from Deleted Items in Exchange Online | 14 days by default, 30 at most | Microsoft Learn |
| A file deleted from SharePoint or OneDrive | 93 days in the recycle bins | Microsoft Support: SharePoint; OneDrive |
| A Google Drive file | Up to 30 days in the trash, then 25 days for an admin to restore after it leaves the trash | Google Workspace Admin Help |
| A Gmail message | 30 days in Trash, then 25 days for an admin to restore | Google Workspace Admin Help |
| A deleted Google Workspace user | 20 days | Google Workspace Admin Help |
| QuickBooks Online company data | Within one previous calendar year, on QuickBooks Online Advanced only, with Intuit’s Online Backup and Restore app | Intuit QuickBooks Support |
After those windows, the built-in tools can’t bring the data back. For the full lists, see our guides to Microsoft 365 retention vs backup and Google Vault.
What does backup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace cost a small business?
Microsoft sells its own Microsoft 365 Backup, billed by storage. Its list price is $0.15 per GiB per month of protected content, and the bill also counts deleted and versioned content held in the backup. Google’s Vault FAQ says Vault isn’t designed to be a backup tool, so Google Workspace backup comes from a third-party service.
For 250 GiB (about 268 GB) at $0.15 per GiB. Microsoft quotes the price in US dollars and gibibytes, and the bill grows as your data does, deleted content included.
With every user or mailbox, on every plan. Priced per user rather than per GB.
Every user or mailbox gets 250 GB of backup storage, in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. We don’t publish a price list. After a free 15-minute demo or a free 30-day trial, you get a scoped, no-obligation proposal with no hidden fees. See how CloudVision pricing works.
Is backup a legal requirement for a UK small business?
If you hold personal data, UK GDPR requires you to be able to restore the availability of, and access to, that data in a timely manner after a physical or technical incident. That’s from the ICO’s guide to data security. UK GDPR doesn’t define “timely”, and the ICO describes an appropriate backup process as one way to gain assurance. The ICO says the guide is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
The NCSC’s guide for small organisations tells you to copy all the data your business needs to operate, and to learn how to restore it. Some sectors add record-keeping rules of their own. Our guide to backup evidence for UK insurers and auditors covers what each rule says.
Backup for care homes, vets, hotels, financial advisers, dentists and more
Each of these sectors has rules about the records it keeps. CloudVision backs up the records that live in Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and QuickBooks Online: email, documents, spreadsheets and accounts. A specialist system, such as a digital care record, a practice management system or a hotel booking system, sits outside those services, so ask its supplier how it’s backed up.
Jump to: Care homes · Vets · Hotels · Financial advisers · Dentists.
| Sector | What the rules say about records | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Care homes (England) | Keep a secure, accurate, complete and contemporaneous record for each person. Adult social care records, care plans included: 8 years, as a minimum. | CQC; NHS England Digital |
| Vets | Keep clear, accurate and adequately detailed records, secure whether electronic or on paper, for as long as necessary. | RCVS |
| Hotels | Record the full name and nationality of every guest aged 16 or over, and keep the record for at least 12 months. | legislation.gov.uk |
| Financial advisers | Keep orderly records of the business, with systems and controls for their adequacy, access and security. | FCA Handbook |
| Dentists | Keep complete and accurate patient records, and back up computerised clinical records, radiographs and other images. Dental clinical care records: 11 years, as a minimum, under NHS England’s code. | GDC; NHS England Digital |
Backup for care homes
In England, CQC Regulation 17 requires providers to “maintain securely an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record” for each person using the service. CQC says paper and electronic records can both be held securely if they meet the Data Protection Act 2018. NHS England’s Records Management Code of Practice sets a retention period of 8 years for adult social care records, and says every period in its schedule is a minimum. If your care plans, rotas or policies sit in SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive, CloudVision backs them up, and retention is configurable to match your policy.
Backup for vets
The RCVS guidance on clinical and client records says vets and veterinary nurses must keep clear, accurate and adequately detailed records, kept secure whether they’re held electronically or on paper. It sets no fixed retention period: records should be kept for as long as necessary, and professional indemnity insurers may set a minimum. Client emails and practice documents in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and the practice’s QuickBooks Online accounts, can all sit in one CloudVision daily report.
Backup for hotels
Under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972, every guest aged 16 or over must give their full name and nationality. The hotel must keep a written record for at least 12 months, open to inspection by the police. If your guest register lives in a booking system, ask its supplier how it’s backed up. If it lives in spreadsheets or email in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, CloudVision backs it up and checks it every day.
Backup for financial advisers
The FCA’s SYSC 9.1 requires a firm, other than a common platform firm, to keep orderly records of its business, sufficient for the FCA to monitor its compliance. For non-MiFID business, the FCA’s guidance expects appropriate systems and controls for the adequacy of, access to and security of those records, kept for as long as they’re relevant. CloudVision backs up client emails in Exchange Online or Gmail and files in SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive. Every daily report is kept in your portal, exportable to PDF or Excel for audits.
Backup for dentists
The GDC’s Standards for the Dental Team require complete and accurate patient records, and say that if clinical records are computerised, you should make back-up copies of clinical records, radiographs and other images. NHS England’s Records Management Code of Practice sets a retention period of 11 years for dental clinical care records, in all dental care settings. If your clinical records and radiographs live in practice management or imaging software, ask its supplier how they’re backed up: CloudVision doesn’t back up those systems. It covers the practice’s email, documents and QuickBooks Online accounts.
Who looks after the backups in a small business?
We do, across all three services. Our engineers connect your Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and QuickBooks Online accounts in minutes, run the first backups and confirm everything is reporting in your dashboard. From then on, every protected object, from a mailbox to a QuickBooks company, is checked against a 24-hour backup SLA. Anything that misses it is flagged and fixed by our UK team, 24/7.
The CloudVision Daily Backup Report arrives every morning with your compliance score, results by service and anything that needs attention, with the full data attached as a CSV. Every report is kept in your portal, filterable by date and exportable to PDF or Excel for audits, cyber insurers and boards. The report shows that backups exist. It doesn’t prove a restore works, so during the free trial we run a timed restore test on your own data and send you the result. If you already have an IT provider, we work alongside them, and they can get every report too.
Small business backup: common questions
Does a small business need Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace backup?
Yes. Microsoft’s shared responsibility model leaves protecting your data to you. By default, Microsoft 365 keeps deleted files for 93 days, and Google Workspace keeps deleted email and files for 55 days at most. CloudVision keeps an independent backup of every mailbox, OneDrive, SharePoint site and Team, and every user’s Gmail, Drive, Calendar and Contacts.
Does Google back up Google Workspace for you?
Not as a backup you can restore from later. Deleted Drive files and Gmail messages stay in the trash for up to 30 days, then an admin has 25 more days to restore them. Google’s Vault FAQ says Vault isn’t designed to be a backup or archive tool.
How much does Office 365 or Google Workspace backup cost for a small business?
Microsoft’s own Microsoft 365 Backup has a list price of $0.15 per GiB per month, or $37.50 a month for 250 GiB (about 268 GB). CloudVision includes 250 GB of backup storage with every user or mailbox, in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and doesn’t publish a price list. After a free 15-minute demo or a free 30-day trial, you get a scoped, no-obligation proposal with no hidden fees.
Can one service back up Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and QuickBooks Online?
Yes. CloudVision backs up all three, shows them in one dashboard and reports on them in one CloudVision Daily Backup Report every morning. QuickBooks Desktop isn’t covered.
Is backup a legal requirement for UK small businesses?
UK GDPR requires you to be able to restore personal data in a timely manner after a physical or technical incident, and the ICO says an appropriate backup process helps give assurance. Some sectors add their own record rules, such as CQC Regulation 17 for care providers in England and the GDC’s backup guidance for dentists.
Do you back up care records, practice management or booking systems?
No. CloudVision backs up Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and QuickBooks Online. If your care records, clinical records or guest bookings live in a specialist system, ask its supplier how it’s backed up.
How long are backups kept?
Retention is configurable to your policy. You can set it to match rules such as the 8 years NHS England’s Records Management Code of Practice gives adult social care records, or the 11 years it gives dental clinical care records.
Where is our backup data stored?
In the UK by default, encrypted at rest and in transit, in data centres that are ISO 27001 certified and SOC 2 Type 2 audited. CloudVision is registered with the ICO, and every customer gets a data protection agreement.
We already have an IT provider. Can you work with them?
Yes. CloudVision works alongside your existing IT provider, and they can receive every report.
Sources used on this page
This page is general information, not legal or insurance advice. Requirements and product limits change, so check the linked sources and your own policies, and take professional advice where needed. Sources last checked on 3 November 2026.
- Shared responsibility in the cloud (Microsoft Learn)
- Recoverable Items folder in Exchange Online (Microsoft Learn)
- Restore items in the recycle bin that were deleted from SharePoint or Teams (Microsoft Support)
- Restore files deleted from your OneDrive (Microsoft Support)
- Pricing model for Microsoft 365 Backup (Microsoft Learn)
- Recover deleted files and folders for Drive users (Google Workspace Admin Help)
- Restore a user’s permanently deleted email (Google Workspace Admin Help)
- Restore a recently deleted user (Google Workspace Admin Help)
- Google Vault FAQ (Google Workspace Help)
- Back up and restore your QuickBooks Online Advanced company (Intuit QuickBooks Support)
- Export your data from QuickBooks (Intuit QuickBooks Support)
- Small organisations guide: Backing up your data (NCSC)
- Back up your organisation’s critical data (NCSC)
- A guide to data security (ICO)
- Regulation 17: Good governance (Care Quality Commission)
- Records Management Code of Practice, Appendix II: Retention schedule, care records and Scope of the code (NHS England Digital)
- Supporting guidance 13: Clinical and client records (RCVS)
- The Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 (legislation.gov.uk)
- SYSC 9.1 General rules on record-keeping (FCA Handbook)
- Standards for the Dental Team, Principle 4 (General Dental Council)