How to set expiration for Microsoft 365 groups in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)

Administrators configure expiration policy for Microsoft 365 groups in Microsoft Entra ID for security and compliance reasons as well as to reduce clutter. It also aids in resource management, cost optimization by freeing up licenses when possible, and helps organizations adhere to internal policies and regulations. In Microsoft Entra ID, you can set an expiration policy for Microsoft 365 groups and manage their lifecycle.

Once you configure a group to expire,

• Owners of the group are notified to renew the group.
• If not renewed, the group is deleted.
• The deleted group can be restored within 30 days by the group owner or administrator.
• Groups with user activities are automatically renewed when the expiration date nears.

The roles and permissions required to set an expiration policy in Microsoft Entra ID are:

Steps to configure expiration policy for Microsoft 365 in Microsoft Entra ID

1. Sign in to Microsoft Entra ID as Global Administrator.
2. Select Groups > All groups > Expiration.
3. In the Expiration page, you can:
   • Set the group lifetime in days. It should be 30 days or more.
   • Mention the email address to which renewal and expiration notifications should be sent if a group has no owner.
   • Select which Microsoft 365 groups should expire. You can select all or none of the groups or just selected ones.
4. Click Save to save the settings.

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