Making M365 Private Channel Archival a Cinch

There are any number of ways to protect content in Microsoft 365, and it often comes down to an admin’s preferences. For some, the best way is to create a private channel. It’s not for everyone, but it can be the ultimate method for locking down shared information. Private channels only allow invited members in, they have separate SharePoint sites, and they can’t be converted to a standard channel or moved to another team. 

When it comes to lifecycle management, private channels have one little drawback, though. Archiving them is an exercise in pain, frustration, and often, futility. Their structures contain exclusive SharePoint sites, document libraries/lists, and documents/items/pages, even if they sit inside the same team as standard channels—no overlap. This makes them secure, but also very difficult to archive. As with many management features, M365 doesn't offer much help out of the box.

One very much non-ideal solution is to leave private channels in place indefinitely. If you’re looking to contain digital debris, move data to cold storage, or apply retention policies to a private channel, you’re out of luck. Archival is usually just too much work. 

Well, it used to be. With the launch of private channel archival in Orchestry, we’re making the impossible possible. 

Learn how Orchestry can simplify managing your M36 environment. Watch our on-demand webinar, Tackling Microsoft Teams & SharePoint Sites Sprawl

Private Channel Archive—On Overdrive

If the process of archiving private channels stalls out every time, maybe just getting it into gear is enough. It's sad this capability isn’t available out of the box, but it’s familiar to anyone who’s spent any time using M365’s built-in management tools. However you want to view it, Orchestry’s made it possible, allowing you to have private channels and manage their lifecycle like another other.

So what does that mean in practice? This is sensitive data we’re talking about, so we’ve approached this feature as a highly technical process that has to cover all its bases. And we’ve had to create it without putting extra burden on you. Here are the steps Orchestry takes to archive your private channels: 

• Process Documents. In most cases, these are the most valuable assets in your channel. They’re the first priority in our archival process.
• Extract Lists. Another critical part of collaboration on M365, your private channel lists will be added to your archive to preserve the data within.
• Preserve Metadata. Especially for admins who place a high value on architectural structure, this is a crucial part of a channel’s data.   
• Set Site as Read Only. You can’t archive if people can still make changes, so we’ll shut off write access—right away. 
• Remove Site from Search Index and Copilot. As with any archive, you don’t want its content crowding out active channels. Not to worry—we’ll get it out of your index and keep its content away from Copilot queries. 
• Change and Record Membership. Obviously, who has access to what is the cornerstone of your security policies, so we’ll preserve this information pre-archival for auditing and compliance purposes. 
• Export Conversations. Just like your documents, these are a critical collaborative asset that need to be preserved. 
• Delete Site. Finally, the channel’s SharePoint site is taken down, erasing—or perhaps more accurately, stowing away—the last bit of regular access. 

If these steps seem familiar, that’s by design. Private channel archivals, while processed differently under the hood, mirror those of standard channels. And why shouldn’t they? The information you put in a private channel is every bit as important as what you store in standard channels. And if Microsoft’s out-of-the-box tools don’t want to face that fact, we’re happy to fill in the gap, with tools that make governance simple. 

Archive and Kicking: Taking the Next Steps with Orchestry

Want to learn more about how Orchestry can make managing your M365 environment dead simple? Watch our on-demand webinar, Tackling Microsoft Teams & SharePoint Sites Sprawl, with Microsoft MVP Richard Harbridge.