Two SaaS Backup Updates You Shouldn't Miss This Month

Most product updates are the kind you can skim over coffee and forget about by lunch. This month is a little different.

The latest update to our SaaS backup service brings two changes worth your attention. The first is a heads-up about Microsoft Public Folders, and it comes with a real deadline. The second is good news for anyone who handles compliance reviews in Google Workspace.

At PureStack, we keep an eye on changes like these so you don't have to. Here's what's new this month and how we're handling it for you.

Let's walk through both: what changed, why it matters, and what (if anything) you need to do next.

The Clock Is Ticking on Public Folder Backups

If your organization still uses Public Folders in Microsoft 365, this one is for you.

Public Folders are those old-school shared spaces in Outlook where teams keep common emails, contacts, and calendars. They've been around for years, and plenty of businesses still rely on them every day.

Here's the catch. Public Folder backups depend on a piece of Microsoft technology called Exchange Web Services (EWS). Think of EWS as the doorway that backup tools use to reach your Public Folder data. Microsoft is now closing that doorway for good.

Microsoft began switching EWS off by default on October 1, 2026, and plans to shut it down completely on April 1, 2027. Most of the backup service's features have already moved to Microsoft's newer technology, called Graph. Public Folders are the exception, because Graph simply doesn't support backing them up or restoring them.

What you'll notice in the portal

To make things easy to spot, any Public Folder account that can no longer be protected now shows a Deactivated label in the portal. If you see that label, it's your signal that backups for that account have stopped.

The good news? Backups you've already taken are not going anywhere. They stay available even after new backups stop.

Your Two Options (and Why You Shouldn't Wait)

You don't need to panic, but you do need a plan. There are two ways forward.

Option 1: Buy yourself some time. You can turn EWS back on in your Microsoft tenant. Doing this keeps your Public Folder backups running as normal. Just remember it's a short-term fix. Once April 1, 2027 arrives, Microsoft switches EWS off for everyone, and backups will stop regardless.

Option 2: Move your data somewhere safer. The built-in Migrate feature lets you move your Public Folder data to another account whenever you're ready. Shared mailboxes are a popular destination. They work much like Public Folders, and they're fully supported for both backup and restore.

For most teams, the smartest path is a mix of both. Re-enable EWS now so nothing slips through the cracks, then plan your migration well before the deadline. That way you're never left with data that isn't protected.

A quick checklist to get started:

• Log in to the portal and look for any Public Folder accounts marked Deactivated.

• Decide whether to re-enable EWS as a stopgap.

• Pick a new home for your Public Folder content, such as a shared mailbox.

• Schedule your migration with plenty of room to spare before April 2027.

Good News for Compliance Teams: Google Shared Drive Is Now in View

If your organization has a Compliance and Review Officer, or CRO, you already know how important their job is. They're the people who review data during audits, investigations, and legal requests. To do that well, they need to see the right information without being able to change it.

Until now, CRO users could view and download backups for Email, Google Drive, and OneDrive. But Google Shared Drive, where many teams keep their most important shared files, was off the list.

That gap is now closed. The CRO role now covers Google Shared Drive. CRO users can view and download Shared Drive backup data in exactly the same way they already do for everything else.

In practice, that means fewer workarounds and fewer requests bouncing to an admin. If a review needs a contract, a project folder, or a policy document that lives in a Shared Drive, your CRO can now find it and download it directly.

More Visibility, Same Safeguards

You might be wondering whether more access means more risk. It doesn't.

Every other CRO restriction stays exactly where it was. CRO users still cannot restore data and still cannot run migrations. They can look and download, but they can't move or overwrite anything.

That balance is the whole point of the role. Your reviewers get a fuller picture of your organization's data, while the controls that keep that data safe stay firmly in place. It's oversight without the worry of someone accidentally changing what they're meant to be reviewing.

How PureStack Has You Covered

You don't have to work through any of this on your own. Here's what our team is doing for you:

• Checking your accounts. We're reviewing your portal for any Public Folder accounts marked Deactivated.

• Keeping backups running. Where it makes sense, we can re-enable EWS in your Microsoft tenant to keep Public Folder backups going in the meantime.

• Planning your move. We'll plan and run the migration of your Public Folder data to a shared mailbox, well before the April 1, 2027 deadline.

• Setting up compliance access. If you have Compliance and Review Officers, we can make sure they have access to your Google Shared Drive backups.

Not sure if this affects you? Get in touch with the PureStack team. We'll check your setup and take care of the next steps, so your data stays protected without any surprises.