OIT Office of Information Technology
| Menu
An open laptop displays the Microsoft 365 logo, along with ten other Microsoft app logos. In the background, a large Microsoft logo is on the wall above a modular couch in what appears to be an office lobby.

Sustainable Storage: Updates to SharePoint Site Management & File Auto Versioning

Submitted by crei1741
on

Following a successful internal pilot, OIT is rolling out the following policies across campus on Sept. 15, 2026, to support a more secure and sustainable Microsoft 365 environment:

  • Requiring two owners for every SharePoint and Teams site
  • Prompting owners of inactive sites to certify that the sites are still needed
  • Applying Auto Version History to Microsoft files saved in OneDrive or SharePoint

Read on to learn more about each initiative.

Two-Person Ownership Policy

To ensure that a site or Team will continue to be managed if an owner changes roles, leaves the university or is unavailable, we are now requiring at least two owners and/or site administrators for every SharePoint site and Microsoft Team.

If you're the sole owner or site administrator for a SharePoint site or Team, you'll receive an automated email in the coming weeks asking you to add a second owner or administrator.

If you receive an ownership notification, follow the link and instructions in the email to add a second owner or administrator. If the site or Team is no longer needed, follow the instructions to request deletion instead.

To learn more, see SharePoint - Ownership & Access or Microsoft Teams - Ownership & Access.

Inactive Site Policy

If a SharePoint site or Microsoft Team has had no activity in the past six months, the owners and site administrators may receive a site certification request to confirm whether the site or Team is still needed.

  • If the site or Team is still in use: Certify it using the link provided in the email.
  • If the site or Team is no longer needed: Request deletion by contacting the IT Service Center at oithelp@colorado.edu.

If no action is taken after three monthly reminders, the site or Team will be placed in read-only status for three months. If there's still no action, the site or Team will be archived for an additional three months before being deleted.

To learn more, see SharePoint - Lifecycle Management or Microsoft Teams - Lifecycle Management.

Microsoft Auto Versioning History

By default, whenever someone edits a Microsoft file that's saved in OneDrive or SharePoint, Microsoft creates a version of the file to use as a restore point. By default, Microsoft saves up to 500 versions of each file indefinitely, which can add up to several gigabytes' worth of low-value historical data.

To balance document recovery needs with long-term storage efficiency, OIT is turning on Microsoft Automatic Version History, which automatically preserves the versions that provide the greatest recovery value while gradually removing older versions that are less likely to be needed.

Site owners do not need to configure or manage this feature, which will be enabled for all campus users on Sept. 15.