Microsoft Exchange Online (Plan 2) Annual Subscription (12 Months)
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Microsoft Exchange Online (Plan 2) Annual Subscription (12 Months) (CFQ7TTC0LH1P:0001) - Local Support
What Exchange Online Plan 2 is
A hosted business mailbox with the compliance and archiving entitlements that Plan 1 does not carry, licensed per user on a 12-month term. Microsoft publishes the primary mailbox at 100 GB. The archive is auto-expanding: Microsoft states each user initially receives 100 GB of storage in the archive mailbox, and when auto-expanding archiving is turned on, additional storage is added incrementally until the archive storage capacity reaches 1.5 TB, which includes the Recoverable Items folder.
What Plan 2 adds over Plan 1
Four things, and they are the reason to pay the difference. Litigation hold and in-place hold, which Plan 1 does not have. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention, which Plan 1 does not have. Auto-expanding archiving to 1.5 TB, against a fixed 50 GB archive on Plan 1. And Exchange Online Archiving, both for Exchange Online and for Exchange Server. Microsoft also publishes voicemail and third-party voicemail and fax integration as available on E3, E5 and Plan 2.
Three things Plan 2 does not give you
This matters enough to say plainly. Cloud Voicemail and auto attendant are Microsoft Teams services; neither appears in the Exchange Online service description as a Plan 2 entitlement, and neither is included here. Advanced eDiscovery, which Microsoft calls eDiscovery Premium, requires E5-class licensing under Microsoft's Purview service description, which does not list Exchange Online Plan 2, so it is not included either. And archiving is not boundless: Microsoft caps the auto-expanding archive at 1.5 TB, and 1.5 TB is the figure this page publishes. Data Loss Prevention, by contrast, is a genuine Plan 2 entitlement.
The Outlook desktop trap
Buying an Exchange Online licence does NOT give a user the installed Outlook application. Microsoft's service description footnote states that connecting an Exchange Online P1 or P2 mailbox to Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook for Windows or Outlook for Mac requires that those applications first be licensed with an account that includes the rights to Microsoft 365 desktop apps. Microsoft's own list of licences that include the Outlook desktop app names no Exchange Online plan. Outlook on the web is included. If installed Outlook is part of the requirement, budget for a Microsoft 365 plan that includes the desktop applications.
Exchange Online (Plan 2) — Mailbox, Archive and Entitlements
Mailbox and archive
| Primary mailbox | 100 GB |
| Archive mailbox | Auto-expanding, up to 1.5 TB |
| Auto-expanding archive | Yes |
| Microsoft's wording on auto-expanding archiving | Each user initially receives 100 GB of storage in the archive mailbox. When auto-expanding archiving is turned on, additional storage is automatically added when the 100 GB storage capacity is reached. Additional storage space is added incrementally until the archive storage capacity reaches 1.5 TB, which includes the Recoverable Items folder. |
Compliance and retention entitlements
| eDiscovery content search | Yes |
| In-place hold and litigation hold | Yes |
| Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention | Yes |
| Exchange Online Archiving (for Exchange Online and for Exchange Server) | Yes |
| Manual retention policies, labels and tags | Yes |
| Messaging records management, journaling, transport rules, S/MIME, encryption of data at rest | Yes |
| eDiscovery Premium (Advanced eDiscovery) | No. Microsoft's Purview service description requires E5-class licensing and does not list any Exchange Online plan. |
Subscription terms
| Term | 12 months |
| Billing | Annual subscription |
| Metric | Per user |
| What happens at expiry | Microsoft's published path for business subscriptions runs Active, then Expired for roughly 30 days with normal access retained, then Disabled for roughly 90 days during which data is read-only and reachable by administrators only, and then deleted. Explicit cancellation shortens this. Renew before the term ends if the data matters. |
| Support route | Microsoft's admin support is included with subscriptions bought direct from Microsoft. Where a subscription is bought through a partner, Microsoft routes support through that partner — which on this order is us. |
| SKU on this listing | CFQ7TTC0LH1P:0001 |
The Outlook Desktop Application — Read This Before You Budget
| The short answer | No Exchange Online plan licenses the Outlook desktop application. |
| Microsoft's wording | Connecting an Office 365 E1, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft Exchange Online P1 or P2 to Outlook for Windows, classic Outlook for Windows, and Outlook for Mac requires that those applications first be licensed with an account that includes the rights to Microsoft 365 desktop apps. |
| What that means in practice | A Plan 1 or Plan 2 mailbox CAN be connected to Outlook desktop, but the user must separately hold an Office or Microsoft 365 licence that grants the desktop applications. Microsoft's own list of licences that include the Outlook desktop app names no Exchange Online plan. |
| Outlook on the web | Included with every plan. Browser access needs no additional licence. |
| Budget implication | If your users need installed Outlook, price a Microsoft 365 plan that includes the desktop apps alongside or instead of a standalone Exchange licence. Ask us and we will compare the two routes. |
Limits, Message Sizes and Restrictions
Message and rate limits (these are tenant-wide, not plan-specific)
| Between users inside Microsoft datacentres | Microsoft: you can send and receive up to 150 MB messages between users where the message never leaves the Microsoft datacenters. |
| Routed outside Microsoft datacentres | Microsoft: subject to an additional 33% translation encoding increase, in which case the maximum message size is 112 MB. |
| Outlook desktop and Outlook for Mac | 150 MB |
| Outlook on the web | 112 MB |
| Outlook for iOS and Android | 33 MB |
| Attachments per message | 250 |
| Recipient rate limit | 10,000 recipients per day |
| Recipient limit per message | Configurable up to 1,000 |
| Message rate limit | 30 messages per minute |
Official Microsoft Documentation
Every figure on this page comes from one of the Microsoft pages below. Where Microsoft's own pages disagree, or where a figure appears only on a marketing page rather than in the service description, we say so on the page rather than pick a side quietly.
- Microsoft Learn — Exchange Online service description (per-plan feature tables)
- Microsoft Learn — Exchange Online limits (mailbox sizes, message sizes, rate limits)
- Microsoft Learn — which licences include the Outlook desktop app
- Microsoft Learn — Microsoft Purview service description (eDiscovery and DLP licensing)
- Microsoft — Exchange Online product page
- Microsoft Learn — Cloud Voicemail (a Teams service, not an Exchange Online entitlement)
- Microsoft Learn — Microsoft 365 lifecycle policy
Frequently Asked Questions — Exchange Online (Plan 2)
Is the archive really unbounded?
No. Microsoft publishes an auto-expanding archive that starts at 100 GB and grows incrementally to 1.5 TB, a figure which includes the Recoverable Items folder. That is a large allowance, but it is a number, and we publish the number.
Does Plan 2 give me voicemail and an auto attendant?
No. Microsoft documents Cloud Voicemail and auto attendant as Microsoft Teams services. What Microsoft does publish for Plan 2 is voicemail and third-party voicemail and fax integration, available on E3, E5 and Plan 2. If you need a telephony auto attendant, the product is Teams Phone, not this.
Does Plan 2 include Advanced eDiscovery?
No. Microsoft's Purview service description lists eDiscovery Premium as requiring E5-class licensing, and Exchange Online Plan 2 is not on that list. Plan 2 does include litigation hold and in-place hold, which Plan 1 does not, plus eDiscovery content search.
What happens if I do not renew?
Microsoft's published path for business subscriptions runs Active, then Expired for roughly 30 days with normal access retained, then Disabled for roughly 90 days during which the data is read-only and reachable by administrators only, and then deletion. For a mailbox this is not an abstract risk. Renew before the term ends.
Who supports it?
Microsoft includes admin support with subscriptions bought directly from Microsoft. Where a subscription is bought through a partner, Microsoft routes support through that partner — on this order, that is us, in Singapore, in your timezone.
What is the uptime commitment?
Microsoft's Exchange Online product page states a guaranteed 99.9% uptime with a financially backed service level agreement. That figure is attributed to the product page deliberately: Microsoft does not publish a per-plan SLA percentage, so this page does not present 99.9% as a guarantee specific to this plan.
