Skip to content

September 8, 2026

Microsoft Teams Retention Policy Change

  • Starting October 6, 2026, new Microsoft Teams recordings, transcripts, and AI-generated meeting summaries (Intelligent Recap) will be automatically deleted after 120 days unless you choose to retain them longer.
  • Any recordings, transcripts, and Intelligent Recap content created before October 6, 2026 will not be impacted.

What’s changing

New default retention period: 120 days for Microsoft Teams meeting recordings, transcripts, and Intelligent Recap content stored in OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint.

What stays the same

  • Microsoft Teams chat retention remains 30 days.
  • Existing Microsoft Teams recordings, transcripts, and Intelligent Recap content created before October 6, 2026 will continue to be retained indefinitely (though we encourage you to review and organize this content according to your records retention policies).

What you should do

Beginning October 6, 2026, if you want to keep a recording, transcript, or summary for more than 120 days, change the retention label before the 120-day retention period ends.

Review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below for more information on what content is impacted, how to retain content longer than 120 days, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Questions

For Teams meetings held on or after October 6, 2026, the following content will be automatically deleted 120 days after it is created unless you apply a longer retention label:

  • Meeting recordings — the video and audio recording files
  • Meeting transcripts — the written record of what was said during the meeting
  • Intelligent Recap content — AI-generated meeting notes, summaries, and related recap content

This change applies to this content when it is stored in OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint.

It does not affect recordings, transcripts, or Intelligent Recap content created before October 6, 2026.

Use these steps to determine whether an item is affected:

  1. Check where the content is stored. This change applies only to Teams meeting recordings, transcripts, and Intelligent Recap content stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams.
  2. Check whether the item has a retention label. Teams meeting content subject to this policy will have one of the following labels:
    • 120 Days: The item was created on or after October 6, 2026, and will be deleted 120 days after it was created unless you change the label.
    • 3 Years: The item was created on or after October 6, 2026, and has been retained longer because there is a documented business, compliance, legal, audit, governance, or institutional need.
    • Teams Meeting Artifacts: The item was created before October 6, 2026, and will be retained indefinitely unless its label is changed. We encourage you to review and organize this content according to your records retention policies.
  3. If there is no retention label, the item is not affected by this change. For example, a recording stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams that was created using another tool (not from a Teams meeting) will not have one of these labels.

For instructions on how to find and change a retention label, refer to Finding and Changing a Retention Label in Teams.

This change applies to anyone who signs into Teams with an @uw.edu account, including all students, faculty, staff and affiliates at UW and UW Medicine.

A longer retention label will need to be applied to this content. For instructions, refer to Finding and Changing a Retention Label in Teams.

This policy was implemented to support our obligations as responsible data stewards.

For more information about this and other Teams policies, refer to Policies (Microsoft Teams).

Need Help?

Email help@uw.edu and include “Microsoft Teams” in the subject line.

Information on Supplemental enhancements for Microsoft Teams
Several new Teams features are available now or will be available soon for faculty and staff only.