Retention policies do two basic things: they either protect data from deletion or delete unnecessary items.
- Retain content - content cannot be permanently deleted before the end of the retention period.
- Delete content - unnecessary content is permanently deleted at the end of the retention period.
You can create and manage retention policies on the:
- Policies page in the Microsoft 365 compliance center.
- Retention page under Data governance in the Office 365 Security & Compliance Center.
For details, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/securitycompliance/retention-policies.