Microsoft Purview: legacy Teams retention policies to stop covering Copilot interactions

Microsoft Purview: legacy Teams retention policies to stop covering Copilot interactions

22 September 2026: Microsoft added an item to its Microsoft 365 Roadmap on 18 September 2026 saying that some older retention policies scoped to Microsoft Teams, which currently also apply to Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions, will be converted into Teams-only policies. After that they will no longer govern Copilot. The item, number 571306, is marked "In development", with general availability targeted for "October CY2026" in worldwide standard multi-tenant tenants.

Not yet independently verified. Both the roadmap entry and the Message Center notice are Microsoft’s own; no independent report had been found at 2026-10-05, and the roll-out window has already moved once. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Update, 5 October 2026: Microsoft sets the window

Microsoft has now published Message Center notice MC1481313 (28 September 2026), tagged as a major change requiring admin action. It says legacy Teams retention policies will no longer apply to Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions, with roll-out beginning in late October 2026 and expected to complete by mid-November 2026 worldwide. Organisations that need Copilot data retained must configure a separate policy before then.

Background

Microsoft Learn explains that Copilot and Copilot Chat messages used to be included automatically in the retention location called "Teams chats and Copilot interactions", because both were retained and deleted the same way. Users did not have to use Teams for such a policy to apply to their Copilot activity.

Microsoft has since separated the two. Newly created policies offer a Microsoft Copilot experiences location, covering Microsoft 365 Copilot, Security Copilot, Copilot in Fabric and Copilot Studio, alongside locations for enterprise AI apps and other AI apps.

The roadmap item deals with the policies created before that split. Once converted, a legacy policy keeps acting on Teams chats, but Copilot prompts and responses fall outside it unless another policy covers them.

Copies of Copilot messages are held in a hidden folder in each user's Exchange mailbox and can be searched with eDiscovery tools. Microsoft's guidance adds that what users see in Copilot is not an accurate guide to what has been retained or permanently deleted.

Why it matters

If your organisation relies on an old Teams policy to keep Copilot interactions for a set period, for records, disputes or regulatory reasons, that coverage ends when the conversion happens. The reverse also applies: if the old policy deleted Copilot content after a short period, that deletion rule would no longer reach Copilot content, which would then be kept or deleted only under whatever other policies apply.

What to do

• List your retention policies in the Microsoft Purview portal and find any that still use the older "Teams chats and Copilot interactions" location.
• Agree the retention and deletion period that Copilot prompts and responses need, separately from Teams chats.
• Create a policy for the Microsoft Copilot experiences location before late October, so there is no gap in coverage.
• Check for other holds on the same mailboxes, such as Litigation Hold or eDiscovery holds, which suspend permanent deletion.
• Brief your records, legal and compliance owners and record the decision.
• Watch the Microsoft 365 message centre for a formal notice with an exact rollout date.

What is not yet known

The roadmap entry gives a month, not a day. It does not say whether administrators will be warned policy by policy, or how to tell which legacy policies currently cover Copilot. The Microsoft Learn retention page read today does not yet describe the conversion.

Sources

• Microsoft 365 Roadmap: item 571306, "Legacy Teams retention policies covering Copilot will be treated as Teams-only" (Microsoft release communications API) - 18 September 2026
• Microsoft Learn: Learn about retention for Copilot and AI apps - 23 September 2025
• Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive (mc.merill.net): RM571306 - 18 September 2026
• Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive (mc.merill.net): MC1481313, legacy Teams retention policies will no longer apply to Copilot interactions - 28 September 2026