When a workspace goes inactive, it doesn't just take up storage. It stays visible in search, keeps members and guests with active access, and remains a surface that Microsoft Copilot can read from. That's a governance gap — even if nobody is actively using that Team or SharePoint site.
Pulse365 closes that gap with a single archive action that works across every connected service at once, governed by a policy you control.
What makes Pulse365 archiving different
Microsoft 365 workspaces are not single objects. A Team is connected to a SharePoint site, a Microsoft 365 Group, a mailbox, a calendar, and often a Planner and a Viva Engage community. Native archive options in Microsoft act on one piece of that structure, leaving the rest untouched.
Pulse365 was built around this aggregated view. When you open a workspace in Pulse365, you see everything that belongs to it — not just the primary container. And when you decide to archive it, Pulse365 acts on all of it.
Archiving actions
The archive action in Pulse365 performs a coordinated set of changes across all services connected to the workspace. Every item below is part of the default policy and can be individually configured.
Site set to read-only
The SharePoint site behind the workspace is immediately set to read-only. Existing content is fully preserved (nothing is deleted). The workspace simply stops growing.
Archive label added to the workspace name
A configurable prefix or suffix (for example, [ARCHIVED] or an archive date) is added to the workspace name. Any admin browsing the environment can see at a glance that the workspace has been archived, without having to open it.
Members removed, guest access revoked
All members are removed from the workspace by default. A designated admin account is kept as owner to maintain accountability. External guest access is also revoked, eliminating the security exposure that unmanaged inactive workspaces often leave behind.
You can configure which account is kept as the designated owner after archiving. This is set in the lifecycle management policy.
Removed from search, address list, and Copilot
Pulse365 removes the workspace from three places that native archiving leaves open:
Global address list: The group is no longer visible when users search for it in Outlook or try to email the group.
Tenant search: The workspace and its content no longer appear in search results across Microsoft 365.
Copilot discoverability: Stale content from this workspace is no longer surfaced by Microsoft Copilot when answering queries across the tenant.
This is especially important for organizations deploying Copilot. An inactive workspace with broad permissions is still a data surface Copilot reads from.
Viva Engage community set to private
If a Viva Engage community is connected to the workspace, its status is changed to private, and its members are removed. Users can no longer discover or join it, and the content is preserved for reference if needed.
Lifecycle management policy
Every archive action in Pulse365 is governed by a lifecycle management policy. This policy defines the full lifecycle behavior of workspaces in your tenant — when they become inactive, how long they can be extended, and exactly what happens when they are archived.
Pulse365 ships with a sensible default policy. You can adjust any of the following to match your organization's standards:
Inactivity threshold: How many days of no activity before a workspace is labeled inactive. You can set this to any value that fits your environment and set notification to the right people within your organization.
Extension duration: How many days a workspace can be extended when an admin or owner wants to keep it active.
Archive actions: Which of the actions above are enabled. Naming, membership, discoverability, and community settings can each be toggled individually.
Designated admin owner: the account assigned as owner of the workspace after archiving, ensuring accountability even after members are removed.
In this release, the lifecycle management policy applies tenant-wide. Scoped policies targeting specific workspace types or naming patterns are on the roadmap for a future update.
How to archive a workspace
Open Pulse365 and navigate to the workspaces report > If you haven't, scan your tenant.
Scroll until the lifecycle section to find inactive workspaces. Use filter capabilities to find the right workspace faster.
Select one or more workspaces using the checkboxes.
Click
to archive. A confirmation modal will summarize exactly what will happen based on your current lifecycle management policy.Confirm to proceed. Pulse365 applies all configured actions across the workspace's connected services.
Before running bulk archives, review your lifecycle management policy settings. The confirmation modal shows a summary, but it's worth verifying that naming conventions, membership handling, and discoverability options are set the way you want them.
Restoring an archived workspace
Archiving is not permanent. Any archived workspace can be restored at any time from within Pulse365, reversing the actions taken and returning the workspace to an active state.
Open Pulse365 and navigate to the workspaces report > If you haven't, scan your tenant.
Scroll until the lifecycle section to find archived workspaces. Use filter capabilities to find the right workspace faster.
Select one or more workspaces using the checkboxes.
Click
to restore the workspace.
How Pulse365 compares to native Microsoft options
Capability | Native M365 archive | Microsoft 365 Archive (paid add-on) | Pulse365 |
Sets site to read-only | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Covers Teams, Sites, Groups, Viva communities | Partial — Teams only | Sites only | ✅ All connected services |
Removes from global address list | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Removes from tenant search | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Removes from Copilot discoverability | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Revokes guest access | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Removes members (configurable) | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Adds archive naming label (configurable) | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Bulk archive from a single dashboard | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Governed by a configurable policy | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Reduces storage costs | ❌ | ✅ (paid license required) | Coming soon |
Workspace archiving is one part of how Pulse365 keeps your Microsoft 365 environment in a state of operational integrity. Inactive workspaces that stay visible, searchable, and accessible are a governance risk — and every one of them is now a single action away from being properly closed off.
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