Collaboration platforms are changing how teams communicate, store information, and get work done. For legal teams, these tools are now a primary source of discoverable data, albeit messy, unstructured, and easy to overlook without the right systems in place.

You didn't miss the Slack message; it never showed up in your inbox. It wasn't in the file share either. It lived in a private channel, nested under threads, buried among GIFs, emojis, and unread updates, until the day someone needed it for litigation.

Legal teams are being asked to track communications across collaboration platforms they didn't choose, don't fully control, and often can't easily search. These tools weren't built for legal hold or eDiscovery, but the data inside them is fair game. As digital teamwork grows, so does the pressure to preserve every message, file, and metadata trail in a way that's accurate, defensible, and fast.

What Are Collaboration Platforms?

Collaboration platforms are digital tools where work happens in real time or asynchronously. They bring together messaging, video calls, file sharing, and task tracking in one space.

Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom are now common across organizations. These tools typically support both structured and unstructured communication, which makes them useful for team communication and project execution.

Because employees use them daily, they often contain key business conversations. In many cases, these platforms have replaced email as the primary communication platform for internal work.

Why Collaboration Tools Matter for Legal and Compliance Teams

Legal teams are being asked to review content that didn't exist in this volume just a few years ago. Information tied to decisions, deals, or disputes now lives in threads, comments, group chats, and shared files.

These tools, including Slack and Microsoft Teams, store a mix of structured and unstructured data. That data is spread across integrations, apps, and users, making it harder to track. What's more, content can be edited or deleted in a way that creates real risk during litigation or investigations.

If collection is manual or incomplete, legal teams could easily miss responsive information. That creates exposure, especially if they're relying on Slack exports or basic screenshots during discovery.

Understanding the Data Landscape in Tools Like Slack

Collaboration platforms store more than just chat logs. Slack, for example, captures messages, reactions, edits, deletions, attachments, and timestamps. It also records user activity and metadata, information often critical for legal review.

Slack eDiscovery is complex partly because messages exist in many formats and locations. You'll often need to track:

• Public channels with long conversation threads
• Private one-to-one or group chats
• Files shared and edited within messages
• App integrations that trigger automated messages

Retention settings add another layer. Teams can set Slack to delete messages after a set time, and those messages may be unrecoverable without a proactive preservation plan.

In other words, content that seems retrievable might be gone if you wait too long to act. That applies to Teams eDiscovery, too, where channel-specific policies affect how long data stays accessible.

What Are the Challenges With Collection and Preservation?

Using native tools like Slack exports might seem easy at first, but there are trade-offs. For one, exports don't always include private messages or full metadata. Some require workspace owner approval or admin-level access.

Legal holds across collaboration platforms often don't function like traditional email archiving. Slack, for instance, doesn't support granular legal holds without Enterprise Grid or third-party tools. That makes automated preservation difficult unless the right infrastructure is already in place.

Maintaining Chain-of-Custody and Compliance

Preserving the full scope of Slack and Teams data requires more than screenshots or spreadsheets. You need a repeatable, defensible process that collects data as it existed at the time of the request.

Chain-of-custody depends on capturing metadata and source formatting. Legal teams must show who accessed the data, when it was preserved, and how it was handled. That can be difficult with manual exports or inconsistent tools.

eDiscovery in Office 365 offers some controls, but it may not be enough to cover external apps or third-party integrations. That's where centralized systems come in. A legal hold platform like Onna, for instance, can sync with 30+ collaboration tools to collect full-fidelity data with metadata intact.

Best Practices for eDiscovery Readiness in Modern Workspaces

Getting ready for legal holds and discovery requests across collaboration tools takes planning. Legal teams should work closely with IT to understand how data moves between systems.

To reduce the risk of missing key evidence, legal teams should:

• Use API-based tools to collect from Slack and Teams
• Automate daily or weekly data captures where possible
• Review and document retention settings for each platform
• Apply legal holds with platform-specific strategies
• Validate exports to confirm completeness and format integrity

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Slack Data Be Used in Legal Proceedings?

Yes. Slack data is considered discoverable in legal matters. That said, to use it in court, the data must come with full metadata and a clear record of how it was collected.

What's the Difference Between Native Exports and Third-Party Collection Tools?

Native Slack exports sometimes leave out private messages, deleted content, or metadata. Third-party tools like Onna can pull data from specific users, channels, or timeframes while preserving metadata and conversation structure.

How Do We Know What Collaboration Data We Even Have?

Legal teams should start with a full inventory. Work with IT to list all active communication platforms and connected apps. Mapping this data helps you decide what to preserve and how often to collect it.

How Often Should We Collect Data From Slack?

That depends on your industry and risk profile. For high-risk matters or regulated industries, real-time or daily syncs may be necessary. For others, a weekly capture may work.

Build a Smarter Collaboration Data Strategy

Legal and compliance teams need a practical strategy to manage the risks and requirements that come with using collaboration platforms. From Slack to Teams, these tools are central to how modern teams work, and they're full of discoverable data that must be preserved and defensible.

Onna makes this possible. Our platform automates defensible Slack eDiscovery, connects to over 30 collaboration tools, and keeps all metadata intact. With built-in legal hold workflows and a no-code interface, Onna simplifies collection and reduces time-to-review.

Get a demo today and see how Onna makes modern collaboration data manageable.