Configuration of Manage archived versions job in Teams archive

The Manage archived versions job is used to remove archived file and message versions in Teams archive. By default, it processes versions whose retention period has already expired. If needed, administrators can enable the option to override document version retention, so the job can also process versions that have not expired yet. The retention override option is license-dependent and is available only with a valid Retention changer license.

With this job, you can control how archived versions are removed. You can keep the last X versions of each archived file or message, or keep versions that are younger than a selected threshold, either a fixed date or X months. The job can run in Immediate processing, Create report, or Apply report mode. For a controlled workflow, first run Create report to review the affected items, then use Apply report to process the reviewed list.

To configure this job, first create a new job instance in the Jobs list.

Navigate to Teams Archive tab => Archive group => Jobs, then click + new. In the Add new job instance dialog, select Manage archived versions from the Available jobs list. Select the node where the job should run from the Run on node list. If you do not want to specify a dedicated node, select Any available. Enter a Display name, then click Add.

On the job configuration page, review the following sections. Most of them are mandatory, while filtering settings are optional.

✓ Running mode settings
The job can run in three modes:

1. Immediate processing - Collects all archived file and message versions matching the filtering criteria and deletes them immediately.
   

2. Create report - Collects archived file and message versions matching the filtering criteria and generates a CSV report listing the affected items. The administrator can review and edit the list before any deletion takes place.
   

3. Apply report - A CSV file previously generated in Create report mode must be uploaded here. The administrator can remove items from the list before running the job; only the versions listed in the file will be processed and deleted.
   

✓ Scheduling settings
In this section, the job schedule must be configured. The job can run either as a one-time task or on a recurring schedule. You can select an existing scheduler from the Scheduled in dropdown list or create a new one by clicking Create new.... For more information on configuring schedulers, refer to Schedules.

✓ Delete versions
In this section you can define which archived file and message versions should be removed.

• Delete even if not expired (changes document version retention)
  If checked, the job deletes versions regardless of whether their retention period has expired. Enabling this option overrides the document version retention setting. This option is license-dependent and is only available if the tenant has a valid license for the Retention changer feature.

  When this checkbox is unchecked, the options below apply only to expired versions:

  • Delete all expired versions — All archived versions whose retention period has already expired will be deleted.
  • Delete expired versions older than [X] month(s) — Only expired versions that are older than the specified number of months will be deleted.
  • Keep at least the last [X] version(s) — Regardless of expiry, the specified number of most recent versions will always be retained.

  

  When this checkbox is checked, the retention period is no longer considered, and the options apply to all versions:

  • Delete all versions — All archived versions will be deleted regardless of their retention status.
  • Delete versions older than [X] month(s) — Versions older than the specified number of months will be deleted.
  • Keep the last [X] version(s) — The specified number of most recent versions will always be retained.

  

✓ Address book objects to process
In this section, select the team(s) to be processed. There are two available options:

a) Process All teams – the job will process versions from all previously provisioned and archived teams.

b) Process Selected teams – teams are added manually via the select option, one by one. Click select to open the Team selection dialog.

✓ Processing and filtering settings
In this section, the user can define which items will be processed during the job. First, select what to process: all data or selected data. In the case of the all data option, the manage archived versions job will include all channels' messages, files, and non-channel related SharePoint data.

If the user selects the selected data option, the Filter team data settings appear. Here are the following options can be selected and defined:

• Process all channels (or filter them out) – the user can decide whether all channels' file versions will be processed or just the versions from channels matching the filtering settings. The channels can be filtered out by the name or the type (IsPrivate=Yes/No).

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Note: The default channel in Teams is General, which is created automatically with the team. This channel will be displayed in the background as „General" even if the users set/use different languages for the Teams client. Because of this, when the user wants to filter out the default channel by the channel name, it needs to be added in English (the other channels can be filtered out with the supported languages), otherwise, the job won't process this channel.

• Process messages where filter is [not set] – only the messages (all or filtered out) will have their versions processed if this checkbox is selected. If the user does not add a filter to the job, then all messages will be processed from the defined channels. It is also possible to process only the selected messages from the team(s) by clicking on the Change filter button (or on the not set). In this case, the Filtering settings window appears, and the user can set the filters for the Manage archived versions job.
  

• Process files where filter is [not set] – only the files (all or filtered out) will have their archived versions processed from the selected team(s) (and/or from the Teams-connected SharePoint sites) if this option is selected. If the user does not add filters to the job, then all files will be processed from the defined channel(s). It is also possible to process only the selected files by clicking on the Change filter button (or on the not set). In this case, the Filtering settings window appears, and the user can set the filters for the Manage archived versions job. The user can also filter out channel-related files or files from the Teams-connected SharePoint sites by using the Is custom data=Yes/No filter.
  

• Process custom SharePoint data – SharePoint is deeply integrated into Teams. Files that are stored in Teams are in SharePoint sites, and these sites can be used by Teams for file storage (these are called Teams-connected sites). These sites are created automatically whenever a user creates a team. The files stored in both Teams and SharePoint sites can be processed by the Process files option, but those items which are available only on the SharePoint sites (lists, tasks, calendar items, contacts, manually created document/picture libraries) are skipped with that option. To be able to process those items with the Manage archived versions job, the Process custom SharePoint data option needs to be selected. This option allows the user to process/skip the custom SharePoint lists/document libraries. For more information about Teams and SharePoint integration, read this article.

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Important: The Process custom SharePoint data function does not work by itself. The Process files option is also needed to be selected, otherwise, the job will run without doing anything. But the files can be easily filtered out (for example: NOT Creation date has value=no), so only the SharePoint data will be processed.

To set the filtering settings, click the Change filter or not set button and set the filtering according to your needs and/or regulations. To learn more about filtering, refer to Filtering in jobs.

✓ Notification settings
In this section, you can configure job notifications. You can choose whether notification emails are sent always, never, or only when an error or warning occurs. In the Recipient list textbox, enter the email address(es) of the recipients. If there are multiple recipients, separate the addresses with a comma (,) or semicolon (;).

✓ Resource settings
In this section, you can configure job resource settings. Set the value that determines how many items are processed simultaneously. The recommended default value is 2.

Once the job is configured, click Save. The job will be listed in the Jobs list and will run according to the defined schedule.