Purview adds priority cleanup for SharePoint and OneDrive
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Microsoft updated Message Center item MC1261587 for a new Purview Data Lifecycle Management priority cleanup workflow. It will let admins hard-delete selected OneDrive and SharePoint content, even when retention policies or holds exist, after the required eDiscovery review and approval. Public preview is planned for mid-July 2026, with worldwide general availability expected in September 2026.
Before this, retention and hold settings made some cleanup decisions deliberately slow. That protected evidence, but it also left sensitive Copilot-related content, Teams transcripts and old files discoverable for longer than admins sometimes wanted. The new workflow gives governance teams a sharper tool, not a background cleaner. Small SharePoint and Teams admin teams will need to decide who can request priority cleanup, who approves it, and how they document permanent deletions before the control appears in Purview.
Analysis
List the content types you would ever hard-delete before preview arrives, then map the approval path. Do not enable priority cleanup until eDiscovery ownership, audit notes and requester rules are written down.
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Purview adds priority cleanup for SharePoint and OneDrive", Collab365 Spaces. 1 source referenced.