Archive inactive SharePoint sites

Find SharePoint sites that nobody uses any more, check with the owners, and retire the sites they no longer need.

Before you begin

• Your Rencore role needs the permissions to create policies, reviews and automations. See Rencore roles.
• SharePoint is connected and scanned.
• A read-only lock works with SharePoint alone. Archiving a site uses Microsoft 365 Archive, which Microsoft bills pay-as-you-go. Set up billing for Microsoft 365 Archive in your tenant first. Without it, the action fails with an error that asks you to set up billing for Microsoft 365 Archive.
• The template descriptions of “Archive SharePoint Site” and “Archive SharePoint Site (with Approval)” say they set the site to read-only. Both run the Archive a Site action, which moves the site into Microsoft 365 Archive. To set sites to read-only, use “Set SharePoint Site to Read-Only”.
• For Teams, use the automation template “Archive unused teams” instead. See Archive or Unarchive a Team.

Steps

Find the inactive sites

1. Go to Policies > Policy Options ([…]) > Create Policy.
2. In the “Policy Template Library”, choose SharePoint site is inactive for more than 90 days. Other useful templates are Site collection is unused with more than 1 GB and Unused Classic sites.
3. On the “Logic” screen, change the number of days if your rule is different, then save. See Create a Policy from a Template.
4. For a one-off list, the report template “Unused Sites” shows sites that have not been used for more than 90 days.

Ask the owners

1. Create a Review and use object filters to limit it to the inactive sites.
2. On the “Automations” tab, turn on custom automations and select the automation templates the owners can choose from. Give each one an action name, such as “Archive”. See Review Automations.
   • “Set SharePoint Site to Read-Only” emails the owner and sets the site to read-only.
   • “Archive SharePoint Site” emails the owner and moves the site into Microsoft 365 Archive.
   • “Archive SharePoint Site (with Approval)” sends an approval request first. If it is rejected, the site stays active.
3. Optionally, under “Follow-up on expiry”, select one of these automations, so sites whose owners do not answer are also handled.
4. Save and start the review. Owners answer in the Rencore Teams App and pick the action there.

Lock a single site

1. To set one site to read-only without a review, open it in the inventory and run the built-in action Set SharePoint Site Collection lock/read only state. Unlock SharePoint Site Collection reverses it. See Executing an Action.

What you see

A read-only site stays open for viewing, but nobody can add new content. An archived site keeps all its content and permissions, but members cannot open it until an administrator restores it. After the next scan, the inventory shows the new “Lock State” or “Site is archived” value.

Limits

• Rencore Governance has no lifecycle stages with renewal periods. Use a scheduled review to ask owners again.
• Archiving single files also needs Microsoft 365 Archive.