Archived storage in Microsoft 365 costs $0.05 per GB per month. Active SharePoint storage costs $0.20 per GB per month. For organisations holding large volumes of rarely accessed content in SharePoint Online libraries, that gap is significant. Microsoft's file-level archiving feature for Microsoft 365 Archive entered public preview on 30 March 2026 and is scheduled for general availability in July 2026.
What Is Microsoft 365 Archive File-Level Archiving?
Microsoft 365 Archive launched with site-level archiving: the ability to place an entire SharePoint site into a read-only cold storage tier, reducing its ongoing storage cost while removing active access for all users. File-level archiving extends that concept down to individual files within an active site.
With file-level archiving, a SharePoint site remains fully operational. Specific files within a library can be moved to cold storage independently, without taking any part of the site offline. Archived files stay visible in their original location in the library, marked with a distinct icon overlay to indicate their archived state. Users with at least read access to the file can initiate reactivation directly from the SharePoint interface.
The feature applies to SharePoint Online document libraries. OneDrive for Business files, OneNote notebooks, SharePoint pages, and SharePoint agents cannot be archived at file level.
Storage Tier Comparison
| Storage tier | Cost per GB/month | User access | Visibility in library |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active SharePoint storage | $0.20 | Immediate | Normal |
| M365 Archive (file-level) | $0.05 | After reactivation (up to 24 hours) | Visible with archive icon overlay |
The 75% cost reduction per GB applies to files that remain archived for extended periods. Reactivation is not free: Microsoft has indicated there will be rehydration charges at general availability, though the final GA pricing has not been published. Admins evaluating the cost case should model expected reactivation frequency alongside the archiving savings to confirm the net benefit for their content.
How Archiving and Reactivation Work
Archiving a file
During the public preview, archiving individual files requires PowerShell using the SharePoint Online Management Shell. Admins target a specific file by URL and move it to the archive tier. At general availability, Microsoft plans to surface archiving through the SharePoint interface as well, removing the PowerShell requirement for one-off operations.
Policy-based automatic archiving (for example, archiving any file not accessed in the past 12 months) is on the Microsoft roadmap but is not yet available. Microsoft has indicated this capability will follow in late 2026.
Reactivating a file
Any user with read access can reactivate an archived file from the SharePoint library interface. Timing depends on how long the file has been in cold storage:
- Archived for 7 days or fewer: reactivation is immediate.
- Archived for more than 7 days: reactivation takes up to 24 hours.
After reactivation, the same file cannot be re-archived for 30 days - a cooldown that prevents content from cycling between tiers and accumulating excessive rehydration charges.
How archived files appear to users
Archived files remain visible in the library at their original location, with a distinct archive icon overlay in the SharePoint web interface. During the public preview, some Microsoft 365 applications including Teams, Word Online, and the SharePoint mobile app showed generic error messages rather than a clear "file is archived" notification when users attempted to open an archived file. Microsoft has acknowledged this and is expected to improve error messaging for the GA release.
Archived files still count against your tenant's SharePoint storage quota. Archiving reduces the per-GB cost but does not reduce the quota consumption visible in the SharePoint admin centre. If your goal is to free up site storage allocation, you need to delete content or trim version history rather than archive it.Prerequisites for Enabling File-Level Archiving
- Microsoft 365 Archive must be enabled for the tenant.
- An Azure subscription configured for pay-as-you-go billing is required to cover archive storage charges.
- The SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator role is required for archiving operations.
- During the preview period, the correct version of SharePoint Online Management Shell is needed for PowerShell-based archiving.
What This Means for SharePoint Storage Management
File-level archiving is a cost-reduction tool, not a storage quota relief mechanism. Organisations with SharePoint sites approaching their pooled storage limits will not resolve that pressure by archiving files; the quota number does not change. The version history accumulation, abandoned document libraries, and oversized media files that consume quota require deletion or trimming. See the SharePoint Online limits and quotas reference for a full breakdown of how tenant storage is calculated and managed.
For organisations where the cost per GB matters more than the raw quota figure, the archive tier is a genuine option for large libraries of completed project records, compliance-hold documents, or reference content that must be retained but is rarely opened. ShareMaster's Space Master tools (including the Version Trimmer and Bulk Delete) address quota consumption directly; file-level archiving is the complementary step for content that cannot be deleted but can be moved to lower-cost cold storage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does file-level archiving count against the SharePoint storage quota?
Yes. Archived files remain in the tenant's storage quota calculation. The cost per GB drops, but the quota figure in the SharePoint admin centre does not change.
How long does reactivation take?
Files archived for 7 days or fewer reactivate immediately. Files archived for more than 7 days can take up to 24 hours to return to the active tier. The same file cannot be re-archived for 30 days after reactivation.
Can regular users archive and reactivate files themselves?
Any user with read access can reactivate files directly from the library interface. Archiving to cold storage during the preview requires PowerShell with admin permissions. At GA in July 2026, the archive action is expected to be available through the SharePoint UI.