• Microsoft Group
  • Including the Group's emails
• Microsoft Team
• SharePoint Site
• Yammer/Viva Engage

Group owners will be notified by email. If the Team was created via Teams client and was not connected to an existing group, the Teams owner(s) will receive a notification to renew through the activity section in the Teams client. The prompt will allow any owner to renew the Team (should appear within 24 hours). Otherwise the Team will be deleted 30 days after the notification appears.

Important: Any Group/Team that has reached 365 days of inactivity will enter the expiration process. If the Group/Team has not been renewed or the expiration date has not been reset (see "When will the expiration cycle be renewed" section) for 365 days, the process will be:

• The Group/Teams owner(s) will receive the first renewal notification.
• 15 days later, if the Group/Team is not renewed, another renewal notification is sent.
• 15 days later, if the Group/Team is not renewed, another renewal notification is sent.
• 1 day later, the Group/Team is soft-deleted.
• 30 days later, the Group/Team is permanently deleted.

In summary, for Groups/Teams owners will have 61 days to renew/restore a Group/Team once it enters the expiration process.

After receiving the notification, Group/Teams owners can take action by renewing the group for another expiration interval of 365 days. The email will look similar to the following:

After clicking on Renew Group link within the email, users will be taken to the group renewal page and given an option to confirm:

When the user clicks on Yes to confirm that they want to renew the Group they will be given a confirmation that it was successfully renewed.

The expiration period begins after 365 days of inactivity.

Groups/Teams that are actively being used are automatically renewed. Any of the following actions will prevent a group from entering into the expiration process:

• SharePoint - view, edit, download, move, share, or upload files.
  • Note - viewing a SharePoint page does not count as an action for automatic renewal.
• Outlook - add a member to the group, read or send a message from the group mailbox, and like a message (Outlook on the web).
• Teams - visiting a teams channel.
• Yammer/Viva Engage - view a post within a Yammer community

When a group no longer has an owner, the members of the Group/Team will receive emails notifying them of the need for an owner. The members will have the option to become an owner.

All the group owners are notified via email and will have the option to restore the Group/Team for up to 30 days.

To restore the group, click on Restore group link within the email message:

When a group expires it is "soft-deleted" - which means it can still be recovered for up to 30 days. As the group owner, please contact the DoIT Help Desk and provide them with the Group/Team address and name.

Important: Any Group/Team owner can restore the Group/Team by following the restore group steps.

No. When a Group/Team is soft-deleted, it can only be restored/recovered within 30 days. After 30 days, it will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered - including all associated communications, files, calendar events, and tasks.