Microsoft 365 groups are set to expire after 180 days of inactivity. The expiration period begins when the group is created, or on the date it was last renewed.
When a group expires, all of its associated services (the mailbox, Planner, SharePoint site, team, etc.) are also deleted.
When a group expires it is "soft-deleted" which means it can still be recovered for up to 30 days.
Groups that are actively in use are renewed automatically. Any of the following actions will auto renew a group:
- OneDrive/SharePoint - view, edit, download, move, share, or upload files. (Viewing a SharePoint page does not count as an action for automatic renewal.)
- Outlook - join group, read or write group message from the group, and like a message (Outlook on the web).
- Teams - visiting a team's channel.
How and when a group owner learns if their groups are about to expire
Group owners will only be notified via email.
30 days before the group expires, the group owners will receive an email allowing them to easily renew the group. If they don't renew it, they'll receive another renewal email 15 days before expiration. If they still haven't renewed it, they will receive one more email notification the day before expiration.
If for some reason none of the owners renew the group before it expires, the ITS Systems team can still restore the group for up to 30 days after expiration.