🗄️ How to Archive a SharePoint Online Site (With Demo & What Happens After)

As your organization evolves, some SharePoint sites become inactive. Maybe a project is completed, a team restructured, or content is no longer actively used—but still holds value. Instead of deleting these sites, it’s smarter to archive them.

In this blog, we’ll walk through:

✅ What is meant by archiving a SharePoint site
✅ Step-by-step demo to archive a site using PowerShell
✅ What happens after a site is archived
✅ Best practices and recommendations
✅ Hands-on lab you can try

🔍 What Does Archiving a SharePoint Site Mean?

SharePoint Online does not have a built-in “archive” button, but we can effectively archive a site by:

• Making the site read-only
• Preventing any edits, uploads, or deletions
• Optionally hiding it from navigation and search
• Applying retention policies via Microsoft Purview
• Moving key documents to a long-term storage site (optional)

The goal of archiving is to preserve the site and its content without allowing further changes.

🧭 When Should You Archive a SharePoint Site?

You should consider archiving a site if:

• The project is completed (e.g., “ERP Migration 2024”)
• The team is disbanded or restructured
• No updates have occurred in the last 6–12 months
• You need to retain historical data for audit or compliance
• You’re decluttering your SharePoint structure

🛠️ DEMO: Archive a SharePoint Site by Making It Read-Only

We’ll use PowerShell to make the site read-only, which is the most common and effective way to archive.

✅ Step 1: Identify the Site

Go to the SharePoint Admin Center:

• Navigate to Active Sites
• Search for the site you want to archive
• Copy the full site URL (e.g., https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/Team-Site/finance-project)

✅ Step 2: Connect to SharePoint Online via PowerShell

If not already installed, install the module:

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell
Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Then connect to your tenant:

Connect-SPOService -Url https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com

✅ Step 3: Lock the Site to Read-Only Mode

Set-SPOSite -Identity https://50xfwy.sharepoint.com/sites/Team-Site/finance-project -LockState ReadOnly

I got error, because Subsite cannot archive only site collections can be archived. So, I am archiving parent site.

🔎 Verify the lock state:

Get-SPOSite -Identity "https://50xfwy.sharepoint.com/sites/Team-Site" | Select LockState

For Revert back or Unlock the site:

You can unlock it with the following PowerShell command:

Set-SPOSite -Identity "https://50xfwy.sharepoint.com/sites/Team-Site" -LockState Unlock
Get-SPOSite -Identity "https://50xfwy.sharepoint.com/sites/Team-Site" | Select LockState

✅ This command restores full read/write access to the site.

🔐 What Happens to an Archived SharePoint Site?

Once the site is archived (read-only), here’s what changes:

Feature	Behavior After Archiving
View Content	✅ Users can still view and download files
Edit/Upload/Delete	❌ Not allowed
Create Pages or Posts	❌ Blocked
Permission Changes	❌ Not possible unless unlocked
Searchable	✅ Still appears in search results (unless hidden)
Navigation	⚠️ Recommended to remove from menus
Restore/Edit	✅ Site can be unlocked anytime via PowerShell

I noticed, Subsite also in lockstate.

📦 Optional: Move Content to an Archive Library

Instead of keeping full sites, some organizations prefer to move selected files to a centralized Archive Center.

🧪 Hands-On Lab Exercise

🔧 Task: Archive the “HR Hiring Portal” site and validate read-only behavior.

Steps:

1. Find and copy the site URL from SharePoint Admin Center
2. Connect via PowerShell
3. Run the Set-SPOSite command with ReadOnly lock
4. Remove it from hub navigation
5. Try editing as a user to confirm the archive status

🏁 Conclusion

Archiving SharePoint sites is a crucial step in managing digital sprawl and ensuring compliance. Whether you’re wrapping up projects or simply organizing your environment, read-only archiving keeps data safe, clean, and accessible.

Remember: Archived ≠ Deleted. You can unlock it anytime!