Quick reference for SharePoint Online's inactive site detection policy: default thresholds, what does and does not reset the inactivity clock, excluded site types, and the settings SharePoint Administrators can adjust.
Inactive site policy: default settings at a glance
| Setting | Default value | Configurable range / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inactivity threshold | 180 days | 90 to 720 days, set by SharePoint Administrator |
| Notification to primary site owner | Email sent when threshold is crossed | Cannot be disabled while policy is active |
| Owner response window | Approximately 14 days | Not directly configurable by admins |
| Action if owner does not respond | Archival via Microsoft 365 Archive | Can be set to notification-only (no automatic archival) |
| Policy scope | All eligible sites in the tenant | Individual sites can be manually exempted |
| Policy state on new tenants | Off (disabled) | Must be explicitly enabled by a SharePoint Administrator |
| Admin center location | Policies > Site lifecycle management | SharePoint admin center only (not Microsoft 365 admin center) |
What resets (and what does not reset) the inactivity clock
SharePoint Online measures inactivity from the most recent qualifying user-initiated event. Automated system processes and background jobs are deliberately excluded so they do not obscure genuinely idle sites.
| Event type | Resets the inactivity clock? |
|---|---|
| File viewed or downloaded by an authenticated user | Yes |
| File uploaded, edited, or saved | Yes |
| Site page visited by an authenticated user | Yes |
| New member added to the site or its associated Microsoft 365 group | Yes |
| Permission changes made by a user | Yes |
| SharePoint search crawler indexing the site | No |
| Microsoft Purview retention policy scan or label sweep | No |
| Automated backup or snapshot job | No |
| Timer jobs and internal SharePoint platform processes | No |
| External sharing link access by a guest (anonymous) | No (anonymous access does not count) |
A site provisioned by a script or template and never visited by a real user will cross the inactivity threshold even if automated processes touch it daily. This is a common scenario for sandbox sites, staging environments, and sites created ahead of a project that did not launch.
Site types excluded from the inactive site policy
| Site type | Excluded from policy? | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant root site (root site collection) | Yes - always excluded | Required for tenant operation; cannot be decommissioned |
| Hub sites | Yes - excluded by default | Hub sites serve aggregation roles and may have low direct visit counts even when actively used |
| Microsoft Teams-connected team sites | Yes - excluded by default | Teams activity (chats, meetings) does not flow through SharePoint activity signals; Teams has its own lifecycle management |
| Sites with an active Microsoft Purview retention policy applied | Yes - excluded by default | Active retention indicates the content is being deliberately preserved |
| Sites manually exempted by an admin | Yes - excluded after exemption | Admin override in the SharePoint admin center site details panel |
| Standard team sites (no Teams connection) | No - in scope | Subject to the policy if enabled |
| Communication sites | No - in scope | Subject to the policy if enabled |
Admin-configurable controls in site lifecycle management
| Control | Where to find it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable or disable the inactive site policy | SharePoint admin center > Policies > Site lifecycle management | Global off/on toggle; policy has no effect while disabled |
| Set the inactivity threshold | Site lifecycle management settings | Range: 90 to 720 days; applies tenant-wide |
| Choose archival or notification-only | Site lifecycle management settings | Notification-only sends owner emails but takes no automated action on the site |
| Exempt a specific site | Admin center site list > site name > site details panel | Removes the site from policy scope indefinitely unless the exemption is revoked |
| View currently inactive sites | Admin center site list, filtered by Last activity date | Sort ascending by Last activity to surface the longest-idle sites first |
Frequently Asked Questions
How does SharePoint determine that a site is inactive?
SharePoint Online measures the elapsed time since the last qualifying user-initiated event: file access, file edits, page views by authenticated users, or membership changes. Automated processes (search crawls, retention scans, timer jobs) do not count. The default threshold is 180 days.
What happens when SharePoint marks a site as inactive?
SharePoint emails the site's primary owner. The owner has approximately 14 days to confirm the site is still needed. Sites with no response enter the archival queue via Microsoft 365 Archive. The policy never deletes a site directly.
Which sites are excluded by default?
Hub sites, the tenant root, Teams-connected sites, and sites with active Purview retention policies are excluded automatically. A SharePoint Administrator can also manually exempt individual sites.
Where do I configure the inactive site policy?
In the SharePoint admin center at Policies > Site lifecycle management. The policy is disabled by default and must be explicitly turned on before any sites are evaluated.
To identify and clean up inactive sites before the policy triggers, see the guide to identifying inactive SharePoint sites. For storage cleanup across all sites, explore Space Master.