Microsoft Entra ID

How to Find Renewed & Restored M365 Groups with Expiration Policies

Expired Microsoft 365 groups are automatically deleted to reduce clutter and enhance security. When data preservation or access recovery is needed, these groups can be restored. But what if an unintended group is restored or a group is renewed without proper review? This can reintroduce outdated permissions and lead to potential risks, which makes close monitoring essential. This guide explains how to track renewed and restored groups with expiration applied to avoid unnecessary restorations.

Retrieve List of Renewed and Restored M365 Groups Using PowerShell

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

Group.Read.All Least Privilege

Directory.Read.All Most Privilege

Connect to the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module with your credentials using the cmdlet below.

Windows PowerShell

 Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Group.Read.All"

Execute the cmdlet below to get the list of restored Microsoft 365 groups.

Windows PowerShell

 Get-MgGroup -All -Property ExpirationDateTime, CreatedDateTime, RenewedDateTime, DisplayName, GroupTypes | Where-Object { $_.GroupTypes -contains "Unified" -and $_.RenewedDateTime -ne $_.CreatedDateTime -and $_.ExpirationDateTime -ne $null } | Select-Object DisplayName, CreatedDateTime, RenewedDateTime, ExpirationDateTime | Format-Table -AutoSize

This PowerShell cmdlet lists all restored and renewed Microsoft 365 groups with an expiration policy applied. It shows their ID, creation date, renewed date, and display name to confirm successful recovery.

Retrieve List of Renewed and Restored M365 Groups Using PowerShell

Note: Microsoft 365 admin centers don’t let you easily filter groups that were restored or deleted due to an expiration policy. Although you can view deleted groups, Entra ID doesn’t have a built-in report to track restored or expiration applied groups.

Simple & Quick
Export Renewed & Restored M365 Groups from AdminDroid

AdminDroid Permission Required Delegated

Any user with report access delegated by the Super Admin.

Sign in to the AdminDroid 365 Reporter.
Navigate to the Renewed or Restored Groups with Expiration under Reports » Entra » Insights » M365 Group Insights » Specialized Group Reports » Renewed Groups.
This report shows complete details of all expiry applied Microsoft 365 groups that were renewed and restored after deletion. It includes the group renewal time, creation time, number of owners, members, next expiration date, and more.
You can export the report in PDF, CSV,HTML,or any other preferred format using the Download option at the top right corner.

Export Renewed & Restored M365 Groups from AdminDroid

AdminDroid Entra ID Reporter

Effortlessly Manage Microsoft 365 Groups with Expiration Policies Through Data-Driven Insights

AdminDroid’s Microsoft 365 group reporting tool makes it easy to track groups deleted due to expiration policies and monitor their restoration. It provides detailed insights into expiration-applied groups, such as expiration dates, renewal status, restoration history, and more.

Prevent Group Expiry Caused by Sign-in Disabled Owners

Find M365 groups with sign-in disabled owners to ensure renewal notifications aren’t missed and reduce the risk of unintentional group expiration or deletion.

Identify Expired Microsoft 365 Groups with Ease

Quickly find and restore expired Microsoft 365 groups to ensure continuity in communication and collaboration.

Monitor Microsoft 365 Group Activity Before Restoration

Analyze Microsoft 365 group activity trends to decide which groups to restore and avoid restoring inactive groups that could lead to unnecessary access & security risks.

Avoid Restoring Ownerless Microsoft 365 Groups

Prevent the restoration of ownerless Microsoft 365 groups to minimize data exposure and maintain a secure collaboration environment.

Visualize Microsoft 365 Groups with an Extensive Dashboard

The Microsoft 365 groups dashboard by AdminDroid provides a unified view of group details along with insights into active, deleted, empty, mail-enabled, security, and dynamic groups etc., to ensure efficient group management.

Recover Vital Data from Recently Deleted Teams Groups

Restore recently deleted Teams groups to regain chat history, shared files, and meeting records, which ensures seamless collaboration and data continuity.

Additionally, AdminDroid offers a user-friendly interface to create, delete, and restore Microsoft 365 groups. It allows you to set alerts for accidental deletions, enforce timely restorations, and maintain full control over group lifecycle management to keep operations secure, transparent, and efficient.

Explore a full range of reporting options

Download Live Demo

Important Tips

Track deleted M365 groups to ensure timely restoration of accidentally removed groups and prevent workflow disruptions.

While configuring the expiration policy, enter an alternate email address to receive renewal and expiration notifications for ownerless Microsoft 365 groups.

Apply retention policies to preserve Microsoft 365 group data in the Preservation Hold Library of SharePoint and OneDrive to prevent data loss from accidental deletions.

Common Errors and Resolution Steps

The following are possible errors and troubleshooting hints while managing the renewal and restoration of expiration applied Microsoft 365 groups.

Error Restore-MgDirectoryDeletedGroup: The term 'Restore-MgDirectoryDeletedGroup' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

This error occurs because the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module is not installed or not properly imported in your environment.

Fix

Install and import the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module using the following cmdlets.

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser -Force 
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph

Error Restore-MgDirectoryDeletedItem : Resource '22a5705c-34d1-4330-b3a9-68fdfedbc282' does not exist or one of its queried reference-property objects are not present.

This error occurs when trying to restore a Microsoft 365 group that no longer exists in the soft-deleted state.

Fix

Before attempting to restore a deleted group, verify its existence using the below cmdlet.

Get-MgDirectoryDeletedGroup -All

Error String was not recognized as a valid Date Time.

This error occurs when the start and end dates are not correctly specified while performing an audit log search for restored group in PowerShell.

Fix

Specify the start and end dates using the format that matches your PowerShell settings, such as "MM/DD/YYYY".

Error Audit log search argument startDate should be after 21/02/2015 05:13:28 UTC.

This error occurs when trying to retrieve data that is beyond the retention period of the audit log in PowerShell.

Fix

Ensure the start date is within the audit log retention period and adjust the date range to a valid timeframe. The retention period is determined by the license you hold.

Microsoft Entra ID

Frequently Asked Questions

Master Microsoft 365 Group Recovery and Management with Ease!

What happens when a Microsoft 365 group with an expiration policy is deleted?

How to renew an expiring Microsoft 365 group?

How to restore a Microsoft 365 group deleted due to expiration?

How to restore an expired Microsoft 365 group with PowerShell?

How to audit restored groups in Microsoft Entra ID?

1. What happens when a Microsoft 365 group with an expiration policy is deleted?

Organizations often configure expiration policies to automatically remove inactive Microsoft 365 groups or clean up unused resources. While deleted groups can be restored, it’s important to understand the lifecycle of group deletion especially for groups with expiration policies to prevent data loss and minimize downtime.

Soft Deletion period: When a Microsoft 365 group with an expiration policy is deleted, the group and its associated resources, such as Planner, Teams, calendar, SharePoint site, and group mailbox are removed. The group is moved to the Deleted Groups section in the Microsoft 365 admin center and remains recoverable for 30 days.
Hard Deletion Period: If the deleted group is not restored within 30 days, it will be hard deleted. This means that, except for the SharePoint site, all other resources associated with the Microsoft 365 group will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. The SharePoint site will remain available for 93 days even after the group is permanently deleted.
Restored Group: If you restore the group within 30 days (soft deletion period), everything will be restored to its original state. This restores the group along with its members, permissions, and associated resources.

Points to remember:

You can only restore deleted Microsoft 365 groups within the retention period. Other types of groups, such as distribution groups, security groups, and mail-enabled groups cannot be recovered once deleted in Microsoft 365.
The retention period for a Microsoft 365 group is 30 days, after which it is permanently deleted.
Restoring a Microsoft 365 group may take up to 24 hours to fully restore all associated mails, documents, SPO sites, etc.
When a Microsoft 365 group is restored from soft delete, the expiration policy is re-applied, and a new expiration date is set based on the restored date and the configured policy duration.

2. How to renew an expiring Microsoft 365 group?

When a Microsoft 365 group has an expiration policy, it must be renewed to avoid automatic deletion. Renewal extends the expiration date based on the configured duration and can happen automatically through user activity or manually when needed.

Automatic renewal: Groups are automatically renewed based on user activity, such as posting in Teams, sending emails to the group mailbox, or modifying SharePoint files.
Manual renewal: Admins can renew expiring groups using PowerShell, perfect for bulk actions or ownerless groups. Group owners can renew their groups through email notifications, Teams activity feed alerts, or from the My Groups section in the Access Panel.

Renew an expiring Microsoft 365 group using PowerShell

To renew a Microsoft 365 group before it is automatically deleted, start by listing all Microsoft 365 groups along with their corresponding group IDs. Use the following PowerShell cmdlet to retrieve the groups list.

Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Group.ReadWrite.All" 

Get-MgGroup -All | Where-Object { $_.GroupTypes -contains "Unified" } | Select-Object DisplayName, Id

Run the following cmdlet after replacing <GroupId> with the ID of the Microsoft 365 group you want to renew. This action renews the selected expiring group and resets its expiration timer.

Invoke-MgRenewGroup -GroupId <GroupId>

Renew expiring groups from the Access Panel

Group owners can renew an expiring Microsoft 365 group directly from the Group details page in the Access Panel group owners can renew an expiring Microsoft 365 group directly from the Group details page in the Access Panel. As an admin, you can encourage owners to regularly check the My Groups section to manage their groups and complete renewals on time. This proactive approach helps prevent unnecessary deletions caused by missed expiration alerts and ensures smoother group lifecycle governance.

Here’s how to renew a group from the Microsoft 365 Access Panel.

Log in to the Access Panel and click My Groups from the left pane.
On the page, go to Groups I own to view the groups you own along with their expiration dates.
Click Filters and switch the Expiring Soon toggle to On. This will list all groups that are nearing expiration.
Find the group you want to renew, click the ellipses (...) next to the expiration date, and select Details.
In the Group expiration section, click Renew group, then confirm the action by selecting Renew in the confirmation window.

Simplify Microsoft 365 group renewals without PowerShell or switching between portals!

With AdminDroid’s management feature, you can view all expiration applied Microsoft 365 groups using the report M365 groups set with expiration policy and renew them directly from the report interface in just a few clicks.
This report also shows expiration dates, group members, and other useful details, you can take timely action before any group gets deleted.

3. How to restore a Microsoft 365 group deleted due to expiration?

As an admin, you may need to recover Microsoft 365 groups that were automatically deleted due to expiration policies configured in your tenant. While these policies help remove inactive groups and reduce clutter, important groups may occasionally get deleted if an owner forgets to renew them or misses the renewal deadline.

In such cases, timely restoration is crucial to prevent disruption to workflows and access to shared resources. Here's how to restore Microsoft 365 groups deleted by the expiration policy.

Recover the deleted Microsoft 365 groups using Microsoft 365 admin center

Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Navigate to the Teams & groups » Deleted groups.
Locate the group that was deleted due to expiration.
Select the group you wish to restore and click Restore group.

Note: The selected group will be restored and will reappear under the Active teams & groups page. All associated data, including group email conversations, notebooks, documents, and the group calendar, will also be restored.

Restore Microsoft 365 group in the Entra admin center

While the Microsoft 365 admin center is suitable for individual group recovery, Microsoft Entra admin center is better for managing and restoring multiple expired groups. Let's see how to restore removed Microsoft 365 group in Entra ID.

Let's see how to restore removed Microsoft 365 group in Entra ID.

Navigate to the Deleted groups in the Microsoft Entra admin center.
Select the group you want to restore and click Restore group.
Then, click "Yes" in the confirmation dialog box to restore the deleted group.

Although Microsoft 365 admin centers display deleted groups and offer options to restore them, there’s no direct way to pinpoint which groups were deleted due to expiration policies. All deleted groups appear in a single list, without filters to isolate expiration-based deletions. As a result, admins need to be prepared with a list of expired groups to restore them accurately.

Easily identify groups deleted by expiration policies using AdminDroid

To simplify the process and eliminate confusion, AdminDroid provides a dedicated report for this called expiry applied deleted M365 groups.
This report helps you identify groups deleted due to expiration policies and restore only the required ones.

4. How to restore an expired Microsoft 365 group with PowerShell?

PowerShell provides an efficient way to restore Microsoft 365 groups that were deleted due to expiration. It supports bulk recovery and automation. Follow the steps below to restore such groups using Microsoft Graph PowerShell.

Restore expired Microsoft 365 groups using PowerShell

Connect to the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module and execute the cmdlet below to restore the deleted Microsoft 365 group due to expiration policy.

Restore-MgDirectoryDeletedItem -DirectoryObjectId "<GroupId>"

Replace <GroupId> with the Id of the Microsoft 365 group you want to restore. To find the deleted group Id, you can use the cmdlet.

Get-MgDirectoryDeletedItemAsGroup | Where-Object { $_.GroupTypes -contains "Unified" -and $_.ExpirationDateTime -ne $null}

Bulk restore deleted Microsoft 365 groups using PowerShell

To restore multiple deleted Microsoft 365 Groups, create a CSV file containing the deleted group names and Group Ids that need to be restored.

Once the CSV file is created, execute the following snippet to restore all the deleted Microsoft365 groups from the CSV file.

Import-Csv -Path "<FilePath>" | ForEach-Object {
 	$groupId = $_.GroupId
 	$groupName = $_.GroupName
 	Try {
 		Restore-MgDirectoryDeletedItem -DirectoryObjectId $groupId -ErrorAction Stop
 		Write-Host "Successfully restored Group: $groupName, ID: $groupId"
 	}
 	Catch {
 		Write-Host "Failed to restore Group: $groupName, ID: $groupId"
 		Write-Host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
 	}
 }

Replace the <FilePath> with the actual path to your CSV file containing the deleted Microsoft 365 group Id.

5. How to audit restored groups in Microsoft Entra ID?

Auditing restored Microsoft 365 groups in Entra ID helps track who restored a group, when it was restored, and any changes in group membership.

You can also ensure that only authorized admins restore the group, as unauthorized restorations can grant unwanted access to resources and increase storage usage for SharePoint sites and OneDrive. Use the following method to audit restored Microsoft 365 groups in Entra ID.

Export restored Microsoft 365 groups using Entra admin center

Log in to the Microsoft Entra admin center.
Navigate to Identity » Groups » All groups and select Audit logs.
In the Activity filter, choose Restore Group and customize the date & time from Date range filter.
To export the audit log of restored group, click Download.
Select CSV or JSON as the file format, then click Download again. This option allows you to export up to 250,000 records.

Note: The Microsoft Entra admin center retains audit logs of restored groups for only 30 days.

The exported report includes the date, activity, result, actor's username, and the restored group's name. It also captures modified properties like reneweddatetime, along with additional details on correlation, service, and more.

List all restored Microsoft 365 groups using PowerShell

If you need to automate tasks or filter data sets based on specific attributes or expiration status, PowerShell is a powerful and efficient solution. Use the following steps to retrieve the restoration activities of Microsoft 365 Groups using PowerShell.

So, let's see how to audit restored Microsoft 365 groups using PowerShell.
Connect to the Exchange Online PowerShell module using the below cmdlet.
```
Connect-ExchangeOnline
```
Then execute the following cmdlet to retrieve audit logs of restored deleted Microsoft 365 Groups.

Search-UnifiedAuditLog -StartDate MM/DD/YYYY -EndDate MM/DD/YYYY -SessionCommand ReturnLargeSet -Operations " Restore Group" |Format-Table

Replace <MM/DD/YYYY> with the actual start and end dates to retrieve audit logs for restored groups.
The native solution makes tracking restored Microsoft 365 groups complex with filters and scripts.

Simplify the process and audit Microsoft 365 group restoration activities with AdminDroid.

This report provides details of all restored Microsoft 365 groups, such as who restored the group, group name, modified properties, restoration time, and more.
Additionally, you can set an alert for each Microsoft 365 group restoration using the alert option to get instantly notified about any group restoration events.