How to Archive Microsoft Teams (Teams, Channels and PowerShell)

Many guides still tell you to delete an old project team or drag its files into an “Archive” folder. It works, but a deleted team is gone after 30 days, and a folder doesn’t stop anyone from posting.

The better way to archive Microsoft Teams is the built-in Archive command. A team owner picks More options > Archive team, and everything turns read-only but stays searchable and easy to restore.

In this tutorial, we’ll cover how to archive Microsoft Teams four ways: as a team owner in the Teams app, one channel at a time, from the Teams admin center and with PowerShell. You’ll also see how to restore a team and where its files end up.

What Happens When You Archive a Team in Microsoft Teams?

Archiving freezes the team instead of removing it. If you’re fuzzy on how a team relates to its Microsoft 365 group and SharePoint site, read Microsoft Teams vs Microsoft 365 Groups first.

Here’s what changes once a team is archived:

• Members can’t start conversations, reply to posts, add or remove channels, edit team settings or add apps.
• Everyone can still open the team, read every channel and search the content.
• Owners can still add or remove members, update roles, and delete, renew or restore the team.
• Private channels and their SharePoint sites are archived with the team.
• Retention and deletion policies keep applying, so archiving doesn’t bypass compliance rules.

Here’s how it compares with deleting or hiding:

Action	Content kept?	Can people post?	Can you undo it?
Archive	Yes	No (read-only)	Yes, any time
Delete	Only for 30 days (soft delete)	No	Only by restoring the group within 30 days
Hide	Yes	Yes	Yes (it only affects your own list)

One more thing to know before you start: channel files live in the team’s SharePoint document library, one folder per channel. That’s why the archive dialog offers to lock the SharePoint site too. More on that split in Microsoft Teams vs SharePoint.

The Sample Team We’ll Use

Every method below uses the same team: Employee Management Team, a public team with 5 people and 3 channels. I created it the normal way, as in creating a team in Microsoft Teams.

• General: the default channel every team has.
• Essential Updates: a channel for a finished onboarding project. This is the one we’ll archive on its own.
• A third project channel that’s still busy, so the team itself must stay open for now.

The tricky part is timing. The Essential Updates work is done now, but the rest of the team keeps going for a few months. So we’ll archive the channel first and the whole team later.

Method 1: Archive a Team in the Microsoft Teams App (Recommended)

Use this when you own the team and the project is over. No admin needed. Not sure you’re an owner? Your role (Owner or Member) shows next to each team on the Your teams and channels page, the same page you use for adding a guest to Microsoft Teams.

Same demo setup: Employee Management Team, and the project is finished. Here are the steps:

1. In Teams, select More list options (the … at the top of the Chat or Teams list).
2. Select Your teams and channels.
3. Under All, hover over the team and select More options (…).
4. Select Archive team (my build shows it as just Archive).

A confirmation dialog opens. Check Make the SharePoint site read-only for team members, then select Archive.

That’s it. Employee Management Team gets a small archive icon, and nobody can post in it anymore.

How does this work?

The Archive command flips the team’s state, not its content. Messages, tabs and files stay where they were, so restoring loses nothing.

The checkbox matters. Without it, members can’t edit files in Teams but can still open the SharePoint site and change them there. With it, only team owners keep edit rights.

Important: an archived team drops into Hidden teams at the bottom of your list for a while. Later you’ll find it under Archived Teams on the Your teams and channels page.

Method 2: Archive a Channel in Teams

Use this when one project is done but the team isn’t. Team owners can archive standard, private and shared channels; channel owners can archive only private channels and shared channels.

Same sample project, but now we archive only the Essential Updates channel:

1. Find the channel in your list of teams and channels.
2. Select More options (…) next to the channel name.
3. Select Archive channel.
4. Check Make the SharePoint folder read-only for team members and select Archive.

Essential Updates now shows the archive icon. People can read and search it, but the reply box is gone.

How does this work?

Channel archiving works like team archiving, just one level down. Only that channel’s conversations go read-only, and the checkbox locks just its folder in the SharePoint library, not the whole site.

To archive several channels, go to the team, select More team options > Manage team, open the Channels tab and use More options > Archive channel on each one.

Important: the team has to be active. You can’t archive or restore a channel inside an archived team, and a channel with no owner can’t be archived either.

Method 3: Archive a Team from the Teams Admin Center

This is the admin route, and it’s the one I use for abandoned teams with no active owner. You need the Teams administrator or Global administrator role. It fits nicely into a regular cleanup, one of my best practices for Microsoft Teams.

Same demo setup, but this time IT archives Employee Management Team:

1. Sign in to the Teams admin center at admin.teams.microsoft.com.
2. Go to Teams > Manage teams.
3. Select the team by clicking to the left of its name (don’t open it), then select Archive.
4. Check Make the SharePoint site read-only for team members if you want the files locked too.
5. Select Archive.

The Status column changes from Active to Archived. Owners and members see the same read-only team as in Method 1.

How does this work?

The admin center runs the same archive operation as the Teams app. The difference is who can run it: you don’t have to be a team member.

Pro Tip: Turn on the Status and Owners columns with Edit columns. Teams with 0 owners are the usual archive candidates.

Method 4: Archive Microsoft Teams with PowerShell

PowerShell is the way to go when you have more than a handful of teams. You need the MicrosoftTeams module and a Teams admin account; my guide to connecting to Microsoft Teams using PowerShell covers the sign-in.

Same sample setup. First, connect and find the GroupId of Employee Management Team:

Install-Module MicrosoftTeams -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-MicrosoftTeams

# -DisplayName is a case-sensitive "contains" filter, so check you got one team
Get-Team -DisplayName "Employee Management Team" | Select-Object GroupId, DisplayName, Archived

That returns one row with the team’s GroupId and Archived = False. (You can also copy the ID from the team link, as shown in finding a Microsoft Teams ID.)

Now archive it and lock the SharePoint site in one line:

$team = Get-Team -DisplayName "Employee Management Team"
Set-TeamArchivedState -GroupId $team.GroupId -Archived:$true -SetSpoSiteReadOnlyForMembers:$true

# Confirm: list every archived team
Get-Team -Archived $true | Select-Object DisplayName, GroupId

After a short delay, Get-Team -Archived $true lists Employee Management Team.

How does this work?

Set-TeamArchivedState needs two things: -GroupId (which team) and -Archived (true or false). -SetSpoSiteReadOnlyForMembers:$true is the same as ticking the SharePoint checkbox in the app.

For a bulk cleanup, put the GroupIds in a CSV and loop through it:

# teams-to-archive.csv has two columns: GroupId,DisplayName
Import-Csv .\teams-to-archive.csv | ForEach-Object {
    Set-TeamArchivedState -GroupId $_.GroupId -Archived:$true -SetSpoSiteReadOnlyForMembers:$true
    Write-Host "Archived $($_.DisplayName)"
}

Get-Team doesn’t return last-activity dates, so build the CSV from the Teams usage report in the admin center, then check the list with the owners before you run it.

Archiving a channel with PowerShell: the MicrosoftTeams module has no channel-archive cmdlet, but Microsoft Graph PowerShell does:

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "ChannelSettings.ReadWrite.All"

$channel = Get-MgTeamChannel -TeamId $team.GroupId |
    Where-Object DisplayName -eq "Essential Updates"

Invoke-MgArchiveTeamChannel -TeamId $team.GroupId -ChannelId $channel.Id

That archives Essential Updates while the rest of the team stays active. It needs the ChannelSettings.ReadWrite.All permission and runs in the background, so give it a moment.

How to Restore an Archived Team or Channel

Restoring is just as easy, and nothing is lost in between. (If you deleted the team instead, that’s a different story; keep a copy first with backing up Microsoft Teams files.)

Restore a team in the Teams app (owners):

1. Select More list options > Your teams and channels.
2. Open the 3 more dropdown and select Archived Teams.
3. Find Employee Management Team and select More options > Restore team.

Restore a team in the Teams admin center: go to Teams > Manage teams, select the archived team and select Unarchive (Microsoft’s docs call it Restore on the team’s own page). It can take a while for the status to return to Active.

Restore with PowerShell:

Set-TeamArchivedState -GroupId $team.GroupId -Archived:$false

Restore a channel: open the archived channel and select More options > Restore channel. To find it, go to Manage team > Channels, open the more filter and pick Archived.

Important: a restored team doesn’t jump back into everyone’s list automatically. Tell the members it’s live again.

How to Access Files in an Archived Team

Archived doesn’t mean locked away. Members can still open, preview and download every file, the same way they share files in Microsoft Teams today, just without editing.

• In Teams: open the archived team, pick a channel and select the Files tab.
• In SharePoint: open the team’s site, go to Documents and open the channel’s folder.
• Need an editable copy? Download the files or copy them to another library before or after archiving.

Can You Archive Microsoft Teams Chats or Conversations?

No. One-on-one and group chats have no Archive command. The closest options are hiding a chat (it comes back when someone posts) or deleting chats in Microsoft Teams.

Channel conversations are different: archiving the channel or team is how you archive them. Chat files aren’t affected either way, because they live in the sender’s OneDrive, in the Microsoft Teams Chat Files folder. If you want those files kept with the team instead, move files from OneDrive to Microsoft Teams before you archive it.

If you need a record of chats for legal or HR reasons, that’s Microsoft Purview territory: retention policies and eDiscovery. For a one-off copy, see how to export Microsoft Teams chat history using PowerShell.

Which Method Should You Use?

Your situation	Use
You own the team and the project is done	Method 1: Teams app
One project channel is done, the team isn’t	Method 2: archive channel
The team has no owner, or you’re IT	Method 3: Teams admin center
Dozens of inactive teams	Method 4: PowerShell with a CSV

I’d start with Method 1 for anything you own. Find more Teams guides on the Microsoft Teams tutorials hub.

Things to Keep in Mind

• Check the SharePoint box: otherwise members can still edit files from the SharePoint site.
• Archive isn’t a backup: the content stays in Microsoft 365, so export what you need off-platform.
• Tell people first: a channel that suddenly goes read-only causes a flood of questions.
• Channels need an active team: restore the team before you archive or restore one of its channels.

Cleaning up Teams is a good time to tidy these up as well:

• How to Use Microsoft Teams for Project Management (Complete Guide)
• Microsoft Teams Team vs Channel: What’s the Difference and When to Use Each
• Create an Announcement in Microsoft Teams [Complete Guide]
• How to Assign Tasks in Microsoft Teams (Complete Guide)

Frequently Asked Questions