Top 10 Microsoft 365 Archive Best Practices

One of the keys to reducing costs and keep SharePoint storage organized lies in mastering Microsoft 365 Archive. Done right, archiving can save your organization up to 75% on per-site storage costs while keeping your essential data safe and compliant. But the real challenge? Ensuring you don’t let those savings slip through your fingers with lax management. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best practices to get the most out of Microsoft 365 Archive—so you can save big and keep your SharePoint environment running smoothly. 

Archive Infrequently Accessed Data

Sure, archiving is a great way to free up space, but not everything needs to go into cold storage. The first rule? Only archive sites that are no longer active but still hold value, whether for compliance, auditing, or historical reference. Don’t waste precious storage on sites you’ll never need again! 

What to Archive: Identify inactive sites that contain important data, such as completed projects or past team sites, which may still be needed for legal or business reasons. 

Pro Tip: Conduct regular audits of your SharePoint environment to spot sites that should be archived before they start racking up extra storage costs. 

Automate with Retention Policies

Let’s be honest—manual archiving is no one’s idea of a good time. But with Microsoft 365’s retention policies, you can set it and forget it. Automating the archiving process moves inactive sites into cold storage without you lifting a finger. 

Why It Works: Automated retention policies ensure that sites are archived on a regular schedule, keeping your environment organized and avoiding unnecessary storage costs. 

Customize It: Tailor your retention policies based on department or project needs to make sure you’re only archiving what’s necessary. 

Reduce the Number of Versions for Archived Sites

You don’t need to save every single version of a document when you archive a site. In fact, reducing the number of document versions can drastically cut your storage costs. 

Smarter Version Control: Use Microsoft 365’s Intelligent Version Control or third-party tools like Orchestry to manage and limit document versions before archiving. Keeping just the last 1-3 versions can rack up significant savings on storage and potential reactivation fees. 

Why It Matters: Old document versions add up quickly, especially in large organizations. Trimming them down before archiving is a simple way to keep costs in check. 

Create a Process to Avoid Unnecessary Reactivations

The biggest hidden cost of archiving? Reactivating a site. Each time you restore archived data, you’re hit with a reactivation fee, which can quickly add up. The key is to minimize unnecessary reactivations by planning ahead. 

Test Before Archiving: Use SharePoint’s lock/unlock feature to gauge whether a site is truly inactive. Lock the site to prevent edits while still allowing access. If the site isn’t needed for a while, then it’s safe to archive. 

Be Selective: Avoid archiving sites that you might need to restore soon. Focus on archiving data that you’re confident won’t need to be accessed frequently. Divide your reactivation fee by the monthly cost to keep a site archived. This will tell you how long it would need to stay archived to recoup fees should you need to reactivate the site. 

Prioritize What Data Gets Archived

Archiving everything is tempting, but not necessary. Before moving a site into cold storage, ask yourself: Do we really need all this data? 

Focus on Value: Large files, like meeting recordings or unused media, can take up a ton of space. Before archiving, review the content and remove files that no longer add value. 

Spring Cleaning: Clean out any redundant, obsolete, or trivial data (ROT) before archiving. This ensures that only essential content gets stored, minimizing costs and keeping things organized. 

Permanently Delete Data When Appropriate

While Microsoft 365 Archive offers a cost-effective way to store data, it’s not free forever. Once data becomes truly obsolete, don’t just let it sit in archive storage—delete it. 

Why Deletion Matters: Archived data still incurs costs, so establish a policy for permanently deleting content after a set period of time. Once your organization feels comfortable, start clearing out old, unnecessary data to avoid paying for storage you don’t need. Just be sure to be mindful of any retention policies you’re required to respect for compliance purposes. 

Cost Control: By routinely deleting outdated archived data, you can ensure your storage expenses stay lean and efficient. 

Restore Sparingly

Reactivating archived data is one of the most expensive parts of the process. To keep your costs under control, minimize the frequency of site restorations, as costs can actually increase and eat away your savings.

The 30% Rule: Try to keep your site restorations below 30% of your archived content per year. If you find yourself constantly restoring data, archiving might not be the best strategy for those sites. 

Strategic Planning: Carefully consider what you’ll need before archiving. Archive only the data that won’t be accessed often to avoid frequent reactivation fees. 

Maximize Free Archiving Opportunities

One great perk of Microsoft 365 Archive? You can archive data for free if your organization still has unused storage space. Take full advantage of this by archiving before you hit your storage limit. 

Free Storage: If your tenant has extra storage available, you can archive inactive sites without any additional costs. This is an excellent way to save while organizing your SharePoint environment. 

Stay on Top of It: Keep an eye on your organization’s pooled storage usage to make sure you’re taking full advantage of any free archiving opportunities. 

Plan for Long-Term Savings 

The real savings of Microsoft 365 Archive come from long-term storage. The longer a site stays archived without reactivation, the more you save compared to keeping it in active storage. 

Think Long-Term: Archive sites you’re confident won’t be needed for years. The longer you can keep a site in cold storage, the more significant the savings. 

Example: Archiving a 150 GB site for three years can save you 75% compared to keeping it active. Long-term archiving is where the big savings happen. 

Monitor Archived Data Usage and Costs Regularly

To ensure you’re getting the most value from Microsoft 365 Archive, it's important to regularly monitor your archived data and associated costs. This proactive approach helps you stay aware of any unexpected expenses and ensures that your archive strategy continues to align with your organization's needs. 

Review Archival Metrics: Use the reporting features within Microsoft 365 to regularly check how much data is being archived, how often data is being reactivated, and the associated costs. 

Adjust Your Strategy: If you notice a trend of frequent reactivations or increasing archival costs, it may be time to refine your archiving strategy—whether that means reducing archived data, adjusting retention policies, or permanently deleting unnecessary content. 

Make Microsoft 365 Archive Work for You 

Microsoft 365 Archive can be a powerful tool for slashing your storage costs, but only if you use it strategically. By following these best practices, your organization can effectively manage its SharePoint storage costs, reduce clutter, and ensure that valuable data is preserved and accessible.  

Find out how Microsoft 365 Archive can help you dramatically reduce costs, streamline your SharePoint environment, minimize reactivation fees, and maximize long-term storage savings. 

Take Control of Your Archiving with Orchestry 

Orchestry’s Archiving solutions provide you with all the tools you need to implement these best practices seamlessly. Streamline your archiving process, automate workflows, and ensure your data remains secure—all while cutting costs. Learn more about Orchestry’s Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Archiving solutions and start optimizing your storage today.