Define the issue and custodians
A dispute may involve multiple accounts, shared mailboxes, local stores, attachments and records outside the mailbox itself. Identify the questions, relevant people, date ranges and foreseeable deadlines. The legal team should address preservation obligations and any privilege or confidentiality boundaries.
Plan a proportionate collection
Assess what exists, who can authorise access and which sources may change or expire. Retain existing exports and record ongoing administrative work. Targeted collection and broader preservation serve different purposes; a narrowly filtered export may not preserve material later found to be relevant.
Document coverage and limits
The collection should record scope, method, settings, dates, errors and omissions. A cloud export is not automatically a complete account history, and a later hold cannot be assumed to restore irretrievably lost material. The agreed output may include preserved files, a source inventory and an acquisition report. Begin with the matter outline, custodians and source locations. Do not send the entire evidence set through a general enquiry channel; agree the authority, conflicts process, scope and transfer procedure first.