Microsoft has been signaling for some time that there are changes being planned for SharePoint online. Of particular interest is this: SharePoint Online is divesting itself from key retention/deletion features. The official language is that they are being retired, while in fact they have instead moved to Microsoft Purview.
Starting April 2026, the following features will be retired:
- Information Management Policies
- In-Place Records Management
- Document deletion policies (deletion only)
- Policies for site closure and deletion (deletion only)
These legacy SharePoint Online features, used for compliance and data lifecycle management, will disappear from the UI and backend functions related to them (for example, in the case of existing already established policies) “may stop functioning.”
Why does this matter?
At first glance, this is not such a drastic change – the features still exist, but shifted to Purview instead of SharePoint. Microsoft recommends that organizations shift to this tool for their compliance and data lifecycle needs going forward.
This is going to take some adjustment; Microsoft won’t automatically migrate your older information management and SharePoint records management features in SharePoint Online. If you choose not to migrate to supported features, the older features may no longer be supported. Organizations therefore have to prepare a plan to migrate their established processes over before April, when the change goes live.
What we must also keep in mind is that Purview is a separate tool and is not necessarily included in your organization’s licensed products; while core retention and deletion is covered even by a basic E3 license, there is no guarantee that you have access to more complex parts of the feature list.
Storage Optimizer provides an alternative
One of the features that organizations may miss is the option for automatic deletion of older documents, a key part of defeating storage bloat. For organizations which used the native SharePoint interface for this, losing this feature may prove troublesome.
An alternative option is to use TECH-ARROW’s Storage Optimizer, whose PRO version allows for automatic cleanup based on file age or other criteria.
If you’re interested in this option, Storage Optimizer can be downloaded and tried out for free on our website, or through the TECH-ARROW store.
Your Data In Your Hands – With TECH-ARROW
