Create a Microsoft Teams Retention Policy in Microsoft Purview

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How to Create a Retention Policy for Microsoft Teams in Microsoft Purview

Retention policies help organizations decide how long Teams data should be kept before it’s automatically deleted. Setting up these policies in Microsoft Purview ensures your organization stays compliant with data protection requirements while keeping storage under control.

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Step 1: Sign in to Microsoft Purview

1. Go to https://purview.microsoft.com.
2. Sign in using a Global Administrator, Compliance Administrator, or Compliance Data Administrator account.
3. On the dashboard, select View all solutions to open all available compliance features.

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Step 2: Open Data Lifecycle Management

1. In the list of solutions, go to Data Governance.
2. Choose Data lifecycle management and then click Open solution to access policy settings.

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Step 3: Create a New Retention Policy

1. In the left menu, select Policies, then choose Retention policies.
2. Click + New retention policy.
3. Enter a name and description for your policy — for example:
   • Name: Teams Retention Policy
   • Description: Retains Teams messages for seven years before automatic deletion.
4. Click Next to continue.

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Step 4: Assign Administrative Units (Optional)

You can choose specific administrative units that the policy will apply to.

• If you leave this section blank, the policy will apply to your entire organization.
• If you select specific units, only those groups or users will be affected.

Click Next when finished.

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Step 5: Choose Policy Type

You can create two types of retention policies:

• Adaptive: Automatically applies to resources that meet certain conditions, such as a site name containing a keyword.
• Static: Manually applies to selected resources like Teams or sites.

Choose the type that best suits your organization’s needs, then click Next.

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Step 6: Select Teams Data Locations

Choose which parts of Microsoft Teams the policy will apply to. You can include:

• Teams channel messages
• Teams chats and Copilot interactions
• Teams private channel messages

Note:
Teams-related locations cannot be combined with other workloads like SharePoint or Exchange. Create separate retention policies for those services.

For general coverage, select both Teams channel messages and Teams chats and Copilot interactions, then click Next.

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Step 7: Configure Retention Settings

1. Choose whether to retain and delete content automatically after a specific period.
2. Set the retention period — for example, 7 years.
3. Select the option to delete items automatically after this period.
4. Click Next to review your settings.

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Step 8: Review and Submit

1. Review all details of your policy, including retention duration and Teams data locations.
2. Confirm any warnings about older content that might be deleted once the policy takes effect.
3. Click Submit, then select Done to finish.

Your new retention policy is now active. It will keep Teams chats and channel messages for seven years, then automatically delete them. It may take up to a week for the policy to be fully enforced.

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Retention for Teams Files

• Files shared in private chats are stored in the sender’s OneDrive.
• Files uploaded to Teams channels are stored in the associated SharePoint site.

To manage these files, create separate OneDrive and SharePoint retention policies, filtered for specific users or teams as needed.

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