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What is the difference between archiving with Microsoft and ShareGate?

Updated

Microsoft and ShareGate both provide IT admins the ability to archive inactive or unneeded teams and groups.

This article explains some of the differences between the Microsoft and ShareGate archiving solutions.

Index

ShareGate archiving overview

With ShareGate you don't have to worry about losing important documents when you want to clean up inactive or unneeded teams and groups. Set up the Azure storage account of your choosing so all the files and folders of teams and groups can be archived.

All of your archived teams and groups, and their content, can be found on the Archive page of ShareGate Protect.

Open the archive details of a team or group to perform a full restore, download archived files and folders, move content to OneDrive for Business, and more.

Table

  ShareGate Microsoft
What can I archive? Microsoft 365 groups and teams.

Microsoft teams only.

Microsoft does not provide an out-of-the-box way to archive groups.
Who can archive?

Any global admin, SharePoint admin, or groups admin with access to ShareGate Protect.

Team and group owners.

 Only Teams service admins.
Where can you archive from?

Directly from ShareGate Protect (admins).

From an inactivity detection notification (team and group owners).

Tip: Check out Ways you can archive with ShareGate

 From the Microsoft Teams admin center.
Can archiving be automated?

Yes.

 Not without PowerShell.
What happens when a team (or group) is archived?

The contents of the team or group are moved to the Azure storage of your choosing.

The associated site collection and apps are deleted (i.e. the team or group and its SharePoint site are fully removed from your tenant).

The team or group archive details can be accessed at any time from ShareGate Protect.

Archived content can be downloaded or copied to a OneDrive for Business account at any time.

The team or group can be deleted.

In your Microsoft Teams admin center team list, the Status is changed to Archived.

The team is set to Hidden but remains in your tenant.

The associated SharePoint site is set to read-only.*

You can still: Add/remove members, update rolls, and view all team activity in standard and private channels, files, and chats.

The team can be deleted.

Note: *An extra step is required to prevent users from editing the SharePoint site content and team Wiki tab. Owners will always be able to edit this content.
What is archived?
  • Files and folders in libraries.
  • Files and folders that were shared in Teams private channels (if present).
  • Documents sent by the group mailbox (if set to save in the SharePoint library). 
  • Documents shared on Planner or Yammer.
  • List attachments.
  • SharePoint's hierarchy (transformed into folders).

Your document version history---including creation and modification dates---is preserved during an archive. ShareGate does not preserve who made the modifications.

 Standard and private channels in the team and their associate site collections.
Is the team (or group) gone indefinitely?

A full restore can be performed within 30 days.

Team or group content can be downloaded or copied to a OneDrive for Business account at any time.

You can restore an archived team at any time.

 

The article Archive or delete a team in Microsoft Teams outlines the Microsoft solution in more detail.

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