Teams site clean up

Teams sites are are provided to University of Waterloo employees. For more information, please see https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/x/VQHf6gk. For information about Microsoft 365 storage quotas, please see Microsoft 365 storage quotas and information.

Before you start deleting files, review the retention policy on the University’s expectations for document management.

1 Check Teams usage data
2 Delete Teams that are no longer needed
3 Organize and delete unused channels/Planner
4 Working with Planner
5 Leave or mute old conversations
6 Clean up files in Teams
7 Organize Teams tabs
8 Use tags to organize people by function
9 Members can remove their own access
- 9.1 Team Owners can check the membership
10 Related articles
- 10.1 Need help?
- 10.2 Article feedback

Check Teams usage data

Open Microsoft Teams: Navigate to the Team and any channel within the Teams
Click on Files: in the top navigation
Click on "Open in SharePoint": to open the associated SharePoint site.
Click on "Site Contents": on the left-hand pane.
Click on "Site settings"
Under Site Collection Administration, click on "Storage Metrics."
You will see your total storage usage and available space on this page.

Delete Teams that are no longer needed

If a team is no longer required and doesn’t need to be archived, consider deleting it to free up space. Deleted teams will be removed entirely from the Teams interface, but data can be recovered for 30 days. See, Delete a Microsoft Team.

Organize and delete unused channels/Planner

Review the channels within each Team. Delete any unused or redundant channels to declutter the workspace. Note that deleting a Channel also removes its messages and files from the Team’s view. Files shared in the channel are still accessible in SharePoint. Channels that are no longer actively used can be hidden, archived, or moved to the recycle bin.

Reminder: Channel you’ll not be deleting any of the files that were shared in it; they will all be retained behind the scenes in the attached SharePoint site. If you don’t want to keep the files either, in Teams, it is easier to delete the files first, then the remove the channel. See, How to manage channels.

Working with Planner

Delete unwanted plans within Microsoft Teams Planner.

Leave or mute old conversations

If you’re part of old chats that are no longer relevant, consider leaving them or muting notifications. See, How to leave a group chat.

Clean up files in Teams

Files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint (for Teams and Channels) and OneDrive (for individual chats).

Review and delete files you own that are no longer necessary.
Regularly review and delete files that are no longer needed from the SharePoint site associated with your Teams channel.
See, Manage files in Teams.

Organize Teams tabs

Review and remove outdated tabs in Channels, especially those linking to files or apps that are no longer relevant. See, Manage tabs in Teams.

Use tags to organize people by function

To streamline communication, use tags to group members of a Team by their role or function, making it easier to reach the right people without creating unnecessary channels. See, How to use tags in Teams.

Members can remove their own access

Members can leave Teams that they no longer need access to. This helps with data security and improves the search experience. Click the ellipsis (…) and select Leave Team.

Team Owners can check the membership

All Team members and guests may not need access to all files. Owners can review who has access to your Teams. Click the ellipsis (…) and select Manage Team.

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