How to Archive Team in Microsoft Teams

In Microsoft Teams, teams are created for various needs. Over time, created teamsmight fall out of use. For example,

• In an organization,when a projectends.
• Ineducation centers, when an academic year ends.

Those teams are no longer active. So, admins can track inactive teams and either delete or archive those teams. Deleting teams will delete all its data like chats, files, associated site collection, etc.

Archived teams can be unarchived (i.e., reactivated) in the future. So, we recommend team archiving and postponing deletion until you are sure that it is no longer needed.

You can archive a team to keep files and govern information. When a team is archived,

1. All its activities are frozen.
2. Conversations and files in the team become read-only.
3. However, members can be added or removed to the team to provide or restrict access.

Youcanhave anyof thebelowrolesto archive teams in Microsoft Teams.

• Teams service admin
• Team owner

Teams can be archivedin many ways. Let’s see all the methods.

• Archive teams from Microsoft Teams
• Archive teams from Teams admin center
• Archive team using PowerShell
• Archive teams inBulk using PowerShell

Follow the below steps in MS Teams.You must be a team owner to make these changes.

1. Select‘Teams’on the left to view the list of your teams
2. Select the ‘Manage Team’ gear iconatthebottom
3. In the list of teams, selecta team by clicking the‘More option’.
4. Select ‘Archive team’.

Note – Likearchiving teams, you can also archive channels in Microsoft Teams.

Teamsadmins can follow the below steps intheTeams admin center.

1. In the Microsoft Teams admin center, selectTeams–>Manage Teams.
2. Select a team by clicking the team’sname
3. SelectArchive.

The above-given methods are useful for small organizations. But that is not feasible for large organizations. You can use PowerShell to archive a team or list of teams.

The PowerShell cmdletSet-TeamArchivedStateis used to setthearchive in a team.

You must connect to Microsoft Teams PowerShell to use the above cmdlet.

To archive a team, run the following cmdlet.

Set-TeamArchivedState–GroupId<team’s group id> -Archived:$true

To view team’s group id, you can use theGet-Teamcmdlet.

To archivealist of teams using CSV input, you can use the below script.It will be useful for universities or schoolsto archive bulk teams when an academic year ends.

$TeamNames=Import-CSV –Header “TeamName” <CSVFilePath> 
Foreach($TeamNamein $TeamNames) 
{ 
 $Name=$TeamName.TeamName  
 $ID=(Get-Team -DisplayName $Name).GroupId  
 Write-Host Enabling archive for $Name -ForegroundColor Yellow 
 Set-TeamArchivedState –GroupId $ID -Archived:$true | Out-Null 
} 
Write-Host Archive enabled for teams in the CSV file -ForegroundColor Green

Toget all the archived teams in the Microsoft Teams, you can use the following PowerShell cmdlet.

Get-Team | where {$_.Archived-eq $true}

It will list team name, id, visibility, description,and mail nickname.

By referringtothe archived teams report, you can unarchive the team anytime.

To restore an archived team in Microsoft Teams, you can useGUI orPowerShell cmdlet.

To make an archived team active, follow the below steps

1. In the Microsoft Teams admin center, selectTeams–>Manage Teams.
2. Select a team by clicking the team’s name
3. Select Unarchive.

To reactivate the archived team using PowerShell, run the following cmdlet

Set-TeamArchivedState–GroupId<team’s group id> -Archived:$false

While PowerShell has been a dependable solution for reporting in large organizations, administrators often struggle with numerous scripts and cmdlets to extract the required Teams information. Here is where AdminDroid comes to the rescue by offering real-time reports that allow admins to stay updated with the latest Teams activity within their organization. Let’s check how!

AdminDroid revolutionizes managing Microsoft Teams by streamlining your workflow and delivering comprehensive insights, eliminating the need for complex PowerShell scripts. With AdminDroid Teams management reports, you can access a wealth of reports covering optimized stats on MS Teams memberships, standard and private channels, Teams settings, permissions, Teams inactive users, device usage, etc.

Additionally, the Teams dashboard offers a comprehensive overview of your Microsoft Teams environment, giving you complete control over team types, membership & ownership details, channel statistics, private channel information, Teams settings, and more. With over 30+ detailed reports, you can track team creation, deletion, member additions, ownership changes, channel modifications, and more within your organization.

AdminDroid Microsoft Teams auditing tool surpasses the limitations of native auditing tools. It provides in-depth details about Teams login activities, file accesses, external sharing audits, Microsoft Teams add-on management, membership changes, and more. This tool optimizes your time and empowers you with in-depth information.

Elevate your Microsoft Teams management with AdminDroid today and stay ahead of every development in your Teams environment. Start exploring AdminDroid today and optimize your Microsoft Teams management.

I hope this blog will help you in managingteams’archives. If you have any queries or requirements, you can sharethemwith us in the comment section.