Use case

Archive or delete inactive workspaces

Last updated Oct 20, 2026 Sprawl & Lifecycle Automation

Teams

SharePoint

Viva Engage

AI summary

Remove unused Teams, SharePoint sites, and Viva Engage communities using inactivity policies and automations. You set inactivity conditions for each workspace type, and templates help flag and retire workspaces through archiving, deletion, or read-only status. Owners can keep workspaces by providing business reasons, or you can manage individual workspaces manually.

Retire the workspaces nobody uses anymore. Policies flag inactive Teams, SharePoint sites and Viva Engage communities, and an automation can ask owners first, then archive the workspace, set it to read-only or delete it.

Applies to

With a review, owners can keep a workspace by giving a business reason.

Who it is for: IT operations and the IT governance lead, and the workspace owners who decide what to keep.

Steps

Decide what inactive means for each kind of workspace, then turn on the inactivity policies below: create a policy from a template. Adjust the time period in the policy logic before you use it.
Archive or delete on violation. Create an automation from a template. The Archive or Unarchive a Team page describes the “Archive Unused Teams” template step by step.
Ask the owners first. Use a template “with Approval”, or create a review so owners confirm which workspaces they still need.
Archive or delete a single workspace by hand with a built-in action.

Step by step: Archive Inactive SharePoint Sites.

Policy templates

Automation templates: Teams (Archive unused teams, Archive Microsoft Team with or without approval, Delete Microsoft Team), SharePoint (Archive SharePoint Site, Set SharePoint Site to Read-Only, Delete SharePoint Site) and Viva Engage (Delete Community).

Limits

Archiving a Team does not move its content to an external archive system.
Archiving SharePoint sites and single files uses Microsoft 365 Archive, which needs its own Microsoft license.
Lifecycle stages with reminders and fixed renewal periods are not available.
Brand-new Teams with no activity yet can show as inactive. Exclude them in the policy logic.

Frequently asked questions

Can workspace owners keep a workspace that was flagged as inactive?

Yes. With a review, owners can keep a workspace by giving a business reason. You can also use a template "with Approval" or create a review so owners confirm which workspaces they still need.

Which kinds of workspaces can inactivity policies find?

Policies flag inactive Teams, SharePoint sites and Viva Engage communities. Templates exist for each, such as Inactive teams, SharePoint site is inactive for more than 90 days, and Viva Engage Communities without members.

What can an automation do with an inactive workspace?

An automation can ask the owners first, then archive the workspace, set it to read-only or delete it. Read-only applies to SharePoint sites; Teams can be archived or deleted, and Viva Engage communities can be deleted.

Does archiving a team move its content to an external archive system?

No. Archiving a Team does not move its content to an external archive system. Archiving SharePoint sites and single files uses Microsoft 365 Archive, which needs its own Microsoft license.

Why are brand-new Teams shown as inactive, and how do I avoid it?

Brand-new Teams with no activity yet can show as inactive. Exclude them in the policy logic. You can also adjust the time period in the policy logic before you use the policy.

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