SharePoint chaos clean-up: Archive the old and find the lost!

I got a confession, I’m truly a SharePoint nerd at heart – and I need to get something off my chest.

Nothing stresses me out more than data chaos.
You know what I’m talking about: abandoned sites, outdated files, mystery documents from 2018, and group names like “ProjectX-Final-Final-v3-Draft.”
I break into a cold sweat just thinking about it…

So when Microsoft finally dropped two new SharePoint life-cycle policies, I may or may not have done a little happy dance in my kitchen..
Let me walk you through the glorious new features that are here to help us archive the old, re-home the lost, and get your data flowing like a mountain stream.

1. Archive sites without recent activity

Old sites with no activity? Archive them!
No need to keep that ghost town from the 2021 “Innovation Hackathon” hanging around, eating up storage and confusing users.

What it does:

It detects SharePoint sites (and Teams-connected sites) that haven’t had any action in a while (like, 6 months), then sends a nice little “Hey, still need this?” message to the site owner.

If they say:

• “Yes!” – Great, the site lives on.
• “Nah.” – Boom. Archived.
• They ignore it? – After a grace period (e.g., 30 days), SharePoint will automatically archive the site!

What happens when archived:

• The site becomes read-only (so nobody can accidentally mess with it).
• It won’t count against your storage quota.
• You can still restore it if someone panics later. No data police will show up, promise.

What users see:

They get a notification that basically says:

“We noticed you haven’t used [Site Name] in a while. Still valuable, or time to let it go?”

All they have to do is click a button and tell SharePoint what to do.
Honestly, it’s less work than deleting your browser history.

Set up Archive inactive sites policy

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center – (You’ll need to be a global or SharePoint admin.)
2. Navigate to SharePoint Admin Center → Policies → Site lifecycle.
3. Click “Archive sites automatically”, and turn the policy ON.
4. Choose your settings:
   • Inactivity threshold (e.g., 180 days)
   • Notification grace period (e.g., 30 days)
   • Whether to archive sites even if they’re connected to Teams
5. Hit Save, and boom—SharePoint starts watching for digital cobwebs.

2. The ownerless site policy (a.k.a. “Who even runs this place?!”)

Let’s talk about those mystery sites that have no owner anymore.
Maybe Bob set it up, but Bob’s been off the grid since 2022. And now the site’s floating in the void, unmanaged and unclaimed.

What it does:

The Ownerless Site Policy finds these digital orphans and asks someone to step in. It’s like foster care for SharePoint sites.

Admins can set who should be contacted (a manager, IT group, or someone logical), and they’ll get a notification that says:

“Hey, the site [Site Name] has no owner. Wanna be the hero this place deserves?”

They can:

• Accept ownership
• Decline (fair enough)
• Nominate someone else

If nobody steps up after a few tries, the admin gets the heads-up to take action.

Set up ownerless site notification policy

1. In the SharePoint Admin Center, head to Policies → Sharing.
2. Scroll down to the Ownerless group and site access section.
3. Turn on notifications for Microsoft 365 Groups and Teams or SharePoint sites, or both.
4. Choose:
   • Who should be notified (e.g., user’s manager, group members, or specific users)
   • Whether they can take ownership or assign someone else
5. Click Save, then sit back while SharePoint starts matchmaking lost sites with new owners.

Why this is amazing (besides saving my sanity)

• Sites that aren’t being used? Gone from view, but not deleted forever.
• Sites with no owner? Adopted by someone who can make decisions.
• Your SharePoint environment? Looking tidy and full of useful, living content.

This is about more than storage—it’s about keeping your data valuable and flowing.
Because outdated, irrelevant content doesn’t help anyone.
And if it doesn’t spark joy (or at least productivity), it’s time to let it go.

My pro tip as a controll freak:

If you’re an admin:

• Set the right activity threshold—6 months is a good starting point.
• Communicate with users about what’s happening. The key points to get people to understand why you do something.
  • Why?
  • What?
  • How?
• Be clear: archived ≠ deleted.

And if you’re a site owner:

• Don’t ghost your sites. If you love them, tell SharePoint. If not, let it archive in peace.

Let’s clean house, people.
Your SharePoint deserves better than a digital landfill. Let’s keep what’s valuable, ditch what’s not, and let the data flow the way it was meant to.

Need help setting this up? Want help with lifecycle strategies? Or just need someone to talk to about your messy intranet past? I’m here for you.