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Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management: Retention based on “last accessed” for OneDrive and SharePoint files
MC999442 · build prod-20251231-200323
Category
planForChange
Severity
normal
Major change
False
Last modified
2025-12-17 18:47:31
Summary source
Azure OpenAI (gpt-4.1)
Action by (Graph)
Action by (AI)
2026-05-25 00:00:00
Services
Microsoft Purview
Tags
Updated message, New feature, Admin impact
Master tags
Roadmap IDs
472030

One-line summary

Admins can soon apply retention policies in OneDrive and SharePoint based on file last accessed date, improving Copilot response quality; rollout starts late May 2026.

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Details

RoadmapIds
472030
Summary
Microsoft Purview will soon enable retention policies based on "last accessed" for OneDrive and SharePoint files, starting preview in late May 2026 and general availability by late June 2026. This feature helps delete obsolete data and improves Microsoft 365 Copilot responses, requiring no admin action before rollout.
Platforms
Web

Body (from Message Center)

Updated December 17, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.

Coming soon for Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management: Admins will be able to apply a retention policy or retention label in Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint for files that have not been accessed by anyone in your organization for a specified period of time. This message applies to retention for Microsoft 365 file types. We will support other file types (non-Microsoft 365) in a future rollout.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 472030.

[When this will happen:]

Preview: We will begin rolling out late May 2026 (previously late January) and expect to complete by late June 2026 (previously late February)

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late June 2026 (previously mid-January 2026) and expect to complete by late July 2026 (previously mid-July)

[How this will affect your organization:]

This feature will help delete obsolete data, which will improve the quality and relevance of Microsoft 365 Copilot responses.

This feature will be available by default.

After the rollout, admins can use the retention control When items were last accessed when configuring labels and policies.

Retention settings page in Purview with the new “last accessed” option for retention policies:

admin controls

[What you need to do to prepare:]

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Before rollout, we will update this post with new documentation.

Raw JSON (for debugging)

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      "Summary": "Microsoft Purview will soon enable retention policies based on \"last accessed\" for OneDrive and SharePoint files, starting preview in late May 2026 and general availability by late June 2026. This feature helps delete obsolete data and improves Microsoft 365 Copilot responses, requiring no admin action before rollout."
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