Microsoft 365 Groups are an easy way to collaborate and communicate with small or medium sized groups of people at Davidson. Unused groups are set to expire after 365 days of inactivity.
Group 365 Expiration Policy Will be Enabled on April 22, 2024
Microsoft 365 Groups are a great tool for collaboration, but often are used for time-limited projects. Unused groups are set to expire after 365 days of inactivity and are automatically sent expiration notices by Microsoft. Groups may be renewed by group owners by responding back to the expiration notice.
Over time, Davidson has accumulated a large amount of unused groups, which adds to the overhead required for managing existing groups, and occasionally take up group names that could be reused in the future. The automatic expiration policy is designed to target only groups that are no longer in use at Davidson, while still providing users the option to renew groups they wish to keep for archival purposes or for use at a future time.
How is Inactivity Defined?
Generally speaking, changes to the group such as sending/receiving email in the group list, adding or removing members, or using other associated features of the group will keep the group active.
Expiration Process
30 days prior to a group's expiration, the group owner (or all members of the group, if no owner exists) will receive a message to their individual Davidson email indicating the expiration date and the option to renew.
Below is an example email for reference. Please note, these messages are sent directly from Microsoft, as opposed to a Davidson address.
The text of the message will give the name of the group, an expiration date and include a Renew group button.
The notification will come from this email address: msgroupsteam@microsoft.com
Renewing Groups
If the group is still in use, recipients can click the Renew group button, sign in with their Davidson account, and then automatically renew the group.
If the group is no longer in use, no action is required.
If a group is not renewed, then it is deleted 30 days after the notification. Groups can be recovered by T&I up to 30 days after the original deletion date.
Please Note: If you receive an expiration notice, new activity in the group alone may not be enough to renew the group. You should always renew the group per the email instructions if you wish to prevent the group from expiring.