What and Why
We’re announcing the General Availability of file-level archiving in Microsoft 365 Archive. This new capability enables organizations to archive individual SharePoint files into a cold storage tier while keeping them discoverable. This feature complements the existing site-level archive experience and helps optimize storage costs while maintaining compliance and accessibility.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 477371.
Rollout Schedule
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins in early July 2026 and is expected to complete by late July 2026.
Impact on Your Organization
Who is affected
- All Microsoft 365 commercial and education tenants with SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365 Archive enabled
- Users with edit or read permissions on SharePoint files
Platforms/Services
- SharePoint Online (web experience)
- Microsoft 365 Archive
What will happen
- A new Archive action will appear in SharePoint on the web for users with edit permissions, allowing them to archive eligible files.
- Files are archived into the Microsoft 365 Archive cold storage tier and can be reactivated by users with read permissions.
- Reactivation may take up to 24 hours, except for files archived within the past 7 days, which can be reactivated instantly.
- Existing retention labels, sensitivity labels, eDiscovery, permissions, and audit logging continue to apply without change, including after files are archived.
- At General Availability, file-level archiving is enabled by default for all SharePoint sites in tenants where Microsoft 365 Archive is enabled, unless administrators have previously reduced or scoped the set of enabled sites.
- File-level archive consumption is billed using the existing pay-as-you-go pricing model for Microsoft 365 Archive.
- This feature may introduce changes to storage usage and billing depending on archival activity.
- This change does not remove or replace existing site-level archiving capabilities.
Action Required / Recommendations
No immediate action is required. However, we recommend administrators take the following steps:
- Confirm configuration: Ensure that Microsoft 365 Archive is enabled and pay-as-you-go billing is configured in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Prepare support teams: Notify storage governance, records management, and helpdesk teams about the new Archive action and reactivation behavior.
- Update documentation: Revise internal training materials and documentation to reflect file-level archiving workflows.
- Evaluate scope controls: If you do not want the Archive action enabled across all sites, use tenant-level or per-site controls (via PowerShell) to scope availability.
Learn more: Manage Microsoft 365 Archive | Microsoft 365 Archive | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
Compliance considerations
| Question | Answer |
| Does the change alter how existing customer data is processed, stored, or accessed (for example, documents, emails, chats)? If so, how and to what extent? | Yes. This change introduces a cold storage tier for SharePoint files, where files are archived and require reactivation before they can be accessed, altering how stored data is accessed. While in the archive tier, the data stays compliantly stored as M365 data. |
| Does the change include an admin control, and can it be controlled through Entra ID group membership? | Yes. Administrators can control the availability of file-level archiving at the tenant or site level using administrative configurations such as PowerShell. |
| Does the change allow a user to enable and disable the feature themselves? | Yes. On sites enabled for file-level archiving, users with appropriate permissions can initiate archiving and reactivation actions on files, effectively controlling whether files are archived or active. |