Microsoft Will Delete Teams Planner Plans After 180 Days of Inactivity

Microsoft will automatically delete some Planner plans created from Teams meetings if they remain inactive for 180 consecutive days.

According to Message Center ID MC1479508, the new lifecycle policy will apply only to Planner plans created from Teams meetings after the rollout begins. Existing plans will not be affected.

Opening a Planner plan will not reset the 180-day timer

Microsoft will only consider a plan active when someone creates, edits, or deletes a task.

Simply opening or viewing the plan will not reset the inactivity timer.

Meeting organizers will receive warning emails 30 days and seven days before Microsoft deletes the plan. They can select Keep plan from the notification to extend its lifetime by another 180 days.

Deleted Planner plans can be recovered for 30 days

Organizations will have a limited recovery window if Microsoft deletes a plan by mistake or the organizer fails to extend it.

Administrators can submit a Microsoft support request within 30 days of deletion to recover the plan.

After those 30 days, Microsoft will permanently delete the Planner plan and its associated Planner data.

Loop tasks and Teams meeting notes will not be deleted

The lifecycle policy only affects the Planner plan and Planner-specific information.

Tasks stored through Loop and content saved in Teams meeting notes will remain available after the Planner plan expires.

Microsoft plans to begin rolling out the change worldwide in early October 2026 and expects to complete deployment by mid-October.

The company says the policy should reduce unused workspace clutter and improve lifecycle management for meeting-created plans.

Microsoft is also making other changes across Teams and Outlook. Microsoft Teams can now automatically block identified bots, while another upcoming update will make Teams meetings more accessible with persistent interpreter video.

Meanwhile, New Outlook is getting a spell check before sending emails.

Via Neowin