Declutter The Timeline: Using Site Lifecycle Policies to Keep Copilot Fresh
- Ryan Bowler
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
Microsoft Copilot is a powerful tool, but it struggles to differentiate between recent work and older content. It can be like asking a friend for today’s homework notes and getting a folder from middle school. Copilot can surface outdated files as if they’re current, which often leads to frustration when irrelevant or obsolete content appears in the results.
This situation presents a clear but actionable challenge for SharePoint administrators, and the best way to make Copilot’s results more current and accurate is by managing the source. A great place to start is with SharePoint site lifecycle policies, through which admins can automate the process of cleaning up old, inactive sites to ensure Copilot is up to date on content.
This isn't just about good housekeeping anymore; it's about actively shaping the knowledge base for your organization's AI.
SharePoint Site Sprawl is Polluting Your AI
Over time, any tenant’s SharePoint environment experiences site sprawl. Temporary project sites become forgotten memories. Team sites from people who have left sit collecting dust. Even libraries from 2018 that nobody has opened in years will cause noise. Each inactive site is a potential source of bad information for Copilot, where it may find:
An outdated version of a company policy.
A draft project plan that was never approved.
Contact information for an employee who left years ago.
Manual file cleanup can seem like an impossible task, and this is where automated lifecycle policies become a key resource in your toolbelt. Yet, it is still important to understand the scope of the problem. As a starting point to begin building your strategy, consider using the Inactive Sites Report inside the SharePoint Admin Center to generate a list of all sites that have had no user activity.
Lifecycle Strategy in Four Simple Steps
A mature site lifecycle strategy isn't just about deletion. It’s a thoughtful, four-stage process that you can largely automate using Microsoft 365 tools.
Step 1: Start at the Beginning with Site Creation Policies
Good lifecycle management begins the moment a site is created. Implement a site creation policy that requires an expiration date. When a user requests a new Microsoft 365 Group (which creates a SharePoint site), you can enforce a policy that the site will expire after a set period.
This prevents temporary project sites from becoming permanent sources of outdated information. The site is automatically flagged for review or deletion, helping to keep your environment clean from the start.
Step 2: Automate Removal with Inactivity Policies
Another useful tool for ongoing cleanup is the Microsoft 365 Group expiration policy, which can be configured based on user activity. For example, you can set a rule that if a site has no user activity for 180 days, the owner receives an automatic notification. They will have a grace period either to renew the site or let it be deleted.
Not only does this help save your tenant on space but also it is a great tool to ensure Copilot isn’t polluted with irrelevant information. Sites that are no longer in use will be marked for deletion, automatically reducing the amount of manual effort as an Administrator.
Step 3: Archive with Purpose
Sometimes an inactive site contains valuable historical information that shouldn't be permanently deleted but also shouldn't be part of Copilot's knowledge base. Before a site is deleted, consider an archival step. This could involve making the site read-only and moving it to a designated "Archive" Hub Site. You can also apply a specific retention label to the content.
By moving a site to an archive, you can use other tools (like the "Restrict content from Copilot" setting) to exclude that entire hub from the AI's view. This preserves the data for compliance or historical reference without it becoming a pollutant.
Step 4: Delete with Confidence
The last step is the permanent removal of the site and its content, which may happen automatically with steps 1 and 2, but could require a manual intervention as well. The deletion process in Microsoft 365 includes a soft-delete period, giving you a final window for recovery, if needed.
This is the final cleanup. Permanently removing obsolete sites and their content is the best way to prevent Copilot from ever finding and using that obsolete data again.
Admins Can Shape Copilot
The quality of Microsoft Copilot’s response is only as good as the cleanliness of the tenant’s SharePoint environment. Administrators should leverage the toolbelt that is Microsoft 365, using tools like site lifecycle policies, to fix up the environment for their users. This is the most effective way to ensure Copilot is providing relevant, recent, and accurate information.
