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  3. Microsoft Teams – Restoring and Archiving your Class Team

Microsoft Teams – Restoring and Archiving your Class Team

Around three to four weeks after the end of a semester, all Class Teams for that semester are archived. The archival process includes the following:

  • The Class Teams is renamed with the prefix “ExpMMYY_”, for expired and the date of expiration
    • Example: An archived Fall 2020 course would be prefixed with “Exp0121_”
  • All students are removed from the Class Team
  • The Class Team is moved out of your list of Active and Hidden Teams

Instructors may restore (recover) archived teams as needed using the steps outlined in this article.

Restoring a Class Team doesn't restore student access

Students must be manually granted access to restored class teams. Please see the instructions below on adding students back to a restored Class Team.

Two years after the course ends, the Class Team for that course will be removed and is no longer be recoverable – this corresponds with timeline for Brightspace courses.

Restoring your Class Team

The ExpMMY_ prefixes remain even after a Class Team is restored.

  1. Select Teams on the left, then click the gear icon Settings buttonat the bottom of the screen and select Manage teams.
  2. Expand your list of Archived Teams to find the Class Team you want to restore.
    Only Team Owners can Restore an Archived Team


  3. Click the three-dot menu () on the right side of your Class Team, then select Restore team.
  4. Your team should now be visible in the list of Hidden teams.

Add Students and Teachers to your Restored Class Team

  1. Click the three-dot menu () on the right side of your restored class Team.
  2. Select Add member.
  3. Choose to add people as Students or Teachers, then search for the person or people you’d like to ad. Click Add.
  4. Successfully added Students can be found in the Members and guests section of the list of Team members. Teachers will appear in the list of Owners.

Remove Students and Teachers from your Restored Class Team

  1. Click the three-dot menu () on the right side of your restored class Team.
  2. Select Manage team.
  3. In Members options, expand the list of Members and guests, then find the person you would like to remove and click the X on the right side to remove them.
    Owners must first be assigned the Member role to be removed.

    You cannot remove other Owners – you must first make them Members, then you can remove them as normal.



Archiving your Class Team

Restored Class Teams should be archived again when you are finished with them. When a Team is archived, the conversations and files associated with that Team become read-only. People still added to that Class Team can still view these files, though by default, all students are automatically removed from a Class Team, as described at the start of this article.

Two years after the course ends, the Class Team for that course will be removed and is no longer be recoverable – this corresponds with timeline for Brightspace courses.

  1. Select Teams on the left, then click the gear icon Settings buttonat the bottom of the screen and select Manage teams.
  2. Expand your list of Active Teams and find your restored Class Team.
  3. Click the three-dot menu () on the right side of your class Team, then select Archive team.
  4. Click Archive to confirm. You may optionally set the SharePoint site associated with this Class Team as Read-Only.

Updated on September 15, 2023

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