M365 Copilot is an exciting addition to Microsoft 365 (M365), promising to streamline workflows by pulling insights from a user's Teams chats, SharePoint documents, and OneDrive files using generative artificial intelligence (AI).
However, for IT professionals in medium-sized businesses, there’s an important prerequisite: Copilot’s effectiveness depends heavily on the quality of the content it accesses. If your M365 environment is cluttered with outdated files, inactive Teams channels, or unsecured documents, Copilot’s results could be inaccurate or even risky.
Copilot prep: content cleanup for IT pros involves organizing and securing this content to ensure the AI tool works smoothly and safely. This process supports IT in maintaining a clean system, helps build user confidence in AI outputs, and enables business leaders to maximize the value of their M365 investment.
Here’s a detailed look at how IT pros can prepare content for Copilot with a structured approach to make it manageable.
Understanding the Need for Content Cleanup
Copilot’s strength lies in its ability to analyze and summarize data across M365—but it doesn’t distinguish between relevant and irrelevant content on its own. If Teams is full of abandoned channels or SharePoint has sites that haven’t been touched in months, Copilot might pull outdated information instead of current priorities. Similarly, if sensitive documents lack proper security tags, they could accidentally surface in responses, posing a compliance risk.
For example, imagine an IT team discovering that Copilot retrieved a three-year-old budget draft from a forgotten SharePoint site rather than the latest version—users lose trust, and IT faces adoption hurdles. Business decision-makers, meanwhile, expect Copilot to deliver time savings, not headaches; a cluttered environment undermines that goal. Cleaning up content ensures Copilot provides accurate, secure, and useful results, making this prep work a critical task for IT pros.
Key Areas for Content Cleanup
Preparing content for Copilot involves focusing on three main areas within M365: Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Each requires specific attention to remove clutter and secure data effectively.
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Teams Cleanup: Teams channels can multiply quickly, leaving behind inactive ones filled with old chats. IT needs to identify and remove these to keep Copilot’s context current. For instance, a channel unused for six months might contain outdated project updates that confuse AI outputs if left in place.
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SharePoint Cleanup: SharePoint sites often accumulate over time, with many becoming dormant. These need to be archived or deleted to reduce the pool of irrelevant data Copilot scans. A site with no activity for a year could clutter results unless addressed.
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OneDrive Security: OneDrive holds individual files that Copilot accesses—ensuring these are organized and labeled prevents sensitive data from leaking into AI responses. An unmarked HR file shared by mistake with all company users, for example, could inadvertently appear in a Copilot summary if not secured.
These areas work together to create a clean, Copilot-ready environment, and IT pros can tackle them systematically to achieve the best outcomes.
Implementing Cleanup Across M365
Here’s how IT pros can approach content cleanup in each area, with practical steps to ensure success:
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Cleaning Up Teams: Begin by reviewing active channels in the Teams Admin Center (Teams > Manage Teams). Look at the last activity date—channels idle for 90 days or more are candidates for removal. Select these, choose “Delete,” and confirm; deleted channels go to a 30-day recycle bin for safety. For larger cleanups, use PowerShell—commands like Remove-CsTeam -Identity "teamID" can handle multiple deletions efficiently. Those responsible for M365 change management and user adoption can assist by notifying team owners beforehand to avoid surprises, ensuring a smooth transition.
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Organizing SharePoint: Navigate to the SharePoint Admin Center (Sites > Active Sites) and sort sites by “Last Activity Date.” Sites dormant for 90 days can be archived—select “Archive” to preserve them without cluttering Copilot’s scope. For truly obsolete sites (e.g., “TestSite2022”), delete them—PowerShell’s Remove-SPOSite -Identity "url" speeds this up for batches. Shrinking Copilot’s data pool can significantly boost response accuracy. IT manages this process, while those responsible for adoption might encourage teams to consolidate active content into fewer, well-used sites.
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Securing OneDrive: Focus on labeling sensitive files to guide Copilot’s access. In Microsoft Purview (Information Protection > Labels), create categories like “Public,” “Internal,” and “Confidential.” Train staff to apply “Confidential” to HR or financial documents—Copilot will skip these unless users have permission. Enable auto-labeling for personal identifiable information (PII)—set rules to tag SSNs or credit card numbers automatically. IT configures these settings and can train users on applying labels manually when needed.
To ensure everything works as intended, IT can test Copilot in a small pilot—say, 10 users—querying “Recent project updates” to confirm only active, secure content appears. Adjustments might include tightening retention policies (e.g., 90 days for Teams chats) or adding metadata to SharePoint files for better organization.
Addressing Challenges and Finding Solutions
Content cleanup isn’t always straightforward—IT pros may encounter obstacles that require thoughtful solutions. If Teams users resist channel deletions, fearing lost history, IT can export chat logs beforehand using the Compliance Center (Content Search > Export) and archive the data, easing concerns while still decluttering.
For SharePoint, a common issue is identifying which inactive sites are truly disposable—cross-check with team leads to confirm before archiving; this will avoid deleting a dormant but critical site.
In OneDrive, manual labeling can lag—auto-labeling helps, but IT should audit weekly via Purview’s Activity Explorer to catch untagged files.
Time constraints are another hurdle; manual cleanup across 50 sites takes days, but PowerShell scripts (e.g., Get-SPOSite) can list and prune them faster. These solutions keep the process on track, balancing IT’s technical needs with those of end users.
How Ideal State Supports Content Cleanup
Preparing content for M365 Copilot can feel overwhelming, especially with limited time and resources, but Ideal State’s Adopt365 services simplify it. Our approach starts with an audit—identifying, say, 30 inactive Teams channels—and moves to action: deleting them, archiving 45 dormant SharePoint
sites, and labeling 85% of OneDrive files, all within a streamlined timeline.
Our Stage 1 cleanup tackles the mess, while Stage 2 ensures Copilot readiness with secure, organized data. One client reduced clutter by 50% and saw Copilot accuracy hit 90%—results IT could implement and promote, and execs could bank on. With experience across 50+ tenants, we offer a proven path—saving IT effort and delivering measurable gains.
Benefits of a Clean Content Environment
When IT pros successfully execute content cleanup, the advantages are clear across the organization. For IT, a streamlined environment—say, reducing Teams clutter by 40%—means Copilot runs efficiently, pulling relevant data without sifting through noise while user trust grows.
Business decision-makers gain measurable value by saving costs on storing stale data, while Copilot’s accuracy saves 100s of hours weekly in manual searches. These outcomes—efficiency, trust, and savings—highlight why content cleanup is a foundational step for AI success.
Tips for Ongoing Maintenance
To keep content Copilot-ready, IT should pull Teams Usage and SharePoint Active Sites reports monthly to spot new clutter, set Purview alerts for untagged files, and work with HR to address low usage through quick refreshers. Testing Copilot queries periodically—e.g., “Show me Q1 plans”—ensures cleanup holds, letting IT fine-tune as needed.
Conclusion
Content cleanup transforms M365 from a cluttered toolbox into an AI-ready platform. By tackling Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive with deliberate cleanup, IT pros create a foundation for accurate Copilot results—supporting system health, user adoption, and business value.
Begin this process today—it’s a practical step toward unlocking M365’s full potential. Clean up now, and set the stage for an AI-enhanced future.