How to find and preserve your Microsoft Teams records

Find, count and save your company's Teams chats, channel posts and shared files before you shut down Microsoft 365. Most of the work happens in Microsoft Purview.

Who can do this: A Global Administrator, plus an admin added to the eDiscovery Manager role group in the Microsoft Purview portal to search and export.
Last verified: October 21, 2026 against Microsoft Teams’s official documentation

Step 01

Where your Teams history lives

Teams runs on its own cloud service. Microsoft also saves a copy of every message in hidden folders in Exchange mailboxes, and keeps files in SharePoint and OneDrive.

1:1 and group chats: a copy goes into the mailbox of every person in the chat.
Standard channel messages: stored in the mailbox that belongs to the team.
Shared channel messages: stored in a system mailbox. To find them, search the parent team's mailbox.
Private channel messages: once stored in each member's mailbox. Microsoft began moving them to the team's mailbox in late 2025, so search both.
Channel files: stored in the team's SharePoint site. Each private and shared channel has its own separate site.
Files shared in chats and meeting recordings: stored in the OneDrive of the person who shared or recorded them.
You can't open these hidden folders directly. An admin reaches them with eDiscovery in the Microsoft Purview portal.

Step 02

How to measure how much you have

Start with the usage report for a quick look. Then use an eDiscovery search to count every message and file you have.

Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center → Reports → Usage → Microsoft Teams → Team usage tab. If you don't see Reports, select Show all first.
Pick 180 days. Note Posts, Replies and Active channels for each team. Select Export to save a CSV file.
For a full count, go to purview.microsoft.com → eDiscovery → Cases. Open the Content Search case or create a new case.
Create a search. Add all people and groups as data sources. Limit it to Teams messages, for example with the query kind:microsoftteams.
Run the search for Statistics. You will see the number and total size of matching items, and which mailboxes hold the most.
Run a second search on your team SharePoint sites and users' OneDrive accounts to size your files.
On the Statistics tab, select Download reports to save a CSV summary.

Usage reports only cover the last 180 days and count activity. Use eDiscovery statistics for your true total.

Step 03

How far back your history goes

Teams does not hide old messages after a set time. But a retention policy may be deleting them, so check before you plan.

Unless a retention policy or a person deletes them, Teams messages stay in place.
Check your policies: Purview portal → Solutions → Data Lifecycle Management → Policies → Retention policies. Look for Teams chats or Teams channel messages policies with a delete action.
If a policy has deleted older chats, users see a note that says older messages were deleted due to the org's retention policy.
Messages that users deleted may still turn up in eDiscovery if a retention policy or hold was in place.
Reactions from before June 1, 2022 are not available in eDiscovery.
When a user leaves and their account is deleted, chats covered by a retention policy move to an inactive mailbox that eDiscovery can still search.

What you see in the Teams app is not a full picture. Microsoft says to trust eDiscovery results, not the app.

Step 04

How to save a copy

First stop anything from being deleted. Then export with eDiscovery, or with the free Teams export tool if you qualify.

Stop deletion: in Purview → Solutions → Data Lifecycle Management → Policies → Retention policies, select New retention policy. Choose Teams channel messages and Teams chats, and set it to retain only. It can take up to seven days to apply.
Make a second retention policy for files. Use Microsoft 365 Group mailboxes & sites and OneDrive accounts. Add SharePoint classic and communication sites to cover private and shared channel files.
Export: open your eDiscovery search → Export. Choose Export items with items report, Create PSTs for messages, and Organize conversation into HTML transcript. If offered, turn on Access links (cloud attachments) to collect linked files.
Track it in Process manager. Open the export and select Download packages. Do this within 14 days, or the export is deleted.
If you have 500 users or fewer and are leaving Teams, you can ask Microsoft for the free Teams data export tool. A Global Administrator starts it from the Teams data export card on the Teams admin center Dashboard.
For that tool, choose a date range such as Entire history → Export. Then go to Analytics & reports → Usage reports → Downloads. Download the ZIP within 24 hours.
Unzip with 7-Zip or a similar tool. Store the copy on a secure drive you control, and keep a backup.

Step 05

What exports leave out

Licenses, file storage and shutdown timing all limit what you can save. Read these before you cancel.

Microsoft says people who work with eDiscovery cases need a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license. Business plans may need an add-on, so check first.
Teams message retention policies are included with Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, E3 and E5 plans.
Teams message policies do not cover files. Files need their own SharePoint and OneDrive policies.
Teams retention does not keep code snippets, mobile voice memos, thumbnails, announcement images or other people's emoji reactions.
The self-serve chat export at teams.live.com/dataexport is only for Teams for personal use. Work accounts need an admin export.
After you cancel Microsoft 365, only admins can reach data, usually for 90 days. Data is deleted no later than 180 days after you cancel.
Deleting a subscription outright deletes SharePoint and OneDrive data right away. Export first.

Microsoft says export download links are for your own use. Never share links, exports or admin logins with anyone outside your company.

Official sources

Vendors change menus and plan limits often. Check the official pages above before you delete anything. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

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