How it works
What happens to each file, step by step.
Step 1: Scan
A free scan, in two parts.
Instant assessment
Uses Microsoft’s usage reports and opens no files. An indicative business case arrives in minutes; reports lag a day or two.
Detailed scan (optional)
Measures real file ages in the libraries you pick. That can take hours or days.
- Sample indicative business case (PDF, 1 page)
- Sample measured business case (PDF, 2 pages)
Both are for the same fictional company. The indicative case prices backing up everything Microsoft reports (3.62 TB) at A$189.50 a month. The measured case prices archiving only files that match the 2-year rule (2.05 TB) at A$118.50.
Who approves it
A Microsoft 365 Global Administrator approves it on Microsoft’s own screen, which shows ArchiveBridge as a verified publisher. The scan app can’t write. Archiving needs a second approval.
Not the admin? You get a single-use link to send them.
Step 2: Move
Each copy is checked before its original goes.
Your rules
- Age
- Not changed for 2 years by default, or 6 months to 3 years.
- Closed work
- A folder rule (say, a Completed folder) or a SharePoint column (say, “Ready to Archive”) can archive files at any age.
- Size
- 1 MB or larger.
- Where
- The sites and folders you choose.
Microsoft keeps no reliable “last opened” date.
For each file
- Copy it to storage and take its SHA-256 fingerprint, a code that changes if the file does.
- Read the copy back. The fingerprints must match.
- Check SharePoint again in case the file changed.
- Write the link file beside the original.
- Delete the original, skipping the recycle bin, to free the space now.
When a check fails, the file stays, flagged for review. With ArchiveBridge backup on too, nothing is removed until a complete, verified backup exists.
Skipped files and legal holds
Files that are checked out or locked as a record by a retention label are skipped and left in SharePoint. Each later scan checks them again. They can be archived once the lock clears.
Files with their own permissions go to review instead of being archived.
SharePoint’s system libraries, including the Preservation Hold Library, are never archived.
ArchiveBridge doesn’t read retention policies, legal holds or eDiscovery holds. If Microsoft blocks a change, the file is left in place and listed for review.
Keep sites under a hold or a retention policy out of scope: you choose which sites and folders are archived. On a site under a Microsoft retention policy, Microsoft keeps its own copy of deleted files, so archiving there may not free space until the policy period ends.
Backups copy held, labelled and record-locked files too. Backup never changes or removes anything, so you can protect held sites while leaving them out of archiving.
Only the current version is archived by default. SharePoint’s version history goes with the original unless you turn on “copy earlier versions”, up to 10 per file by default.
Step 3: Restore
Open the link file and press Restore.
It’s a small web page, named like the original plus .html.
The file returns to its original folder, checked again, with that folder’s current permissions. IT can restore whole folders or sites from the console.
Restores back to SharePoint are never charged, in bulk too. A full export elsewhere is quoted first.
Who can press Restore?
Anyone who has the link. It holds an unguessable ID, and people normally only see it if SharePoint lets them open the link file.
Restore only writes the file back to its original SharePoint folder. It never sends the file to the person clicking.
In SharePoint’s preview, the Restore button may need opening in a new tab. The page also shows the link.
Console restores run up to 250 files per confirmation. We plan large restores with you.
While a file is archived
- Search finds its link file by name, but not the words inside the file.
- Links to the original won’t open it. Old sharing links don’t come back after a restore.
Start with the free scan.
Read-only. Your Microsoft 365 admin approves it. No card. Not the admin? Send this to your IT person.