In the AI era, long-term content is no longer just a compliance overhead – it’s a strategic asset. From completed project sites in SharePoint to legacy records, organizations are increasingly required to retain critical, high-value content for decades to meet regulatory, legal, and operational needs, and for unlocking insights through AI.
Ensuring long-term data accessibility
While archiving can help reduce SharePoint storage costs and clutter, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee future file readability. Many non-Microsoft file formats (like Real Media, Flash, WordPerfect, .mov) and complex formats (like AV, CAD, GIS, WARC and 3D files) are either already obsolete or at risk of becoming inaccessible due to format obsolescence or not having the software to open them.
Some of this content may be 40 years old, migrated from legacy systems, and might need to remain accessible for another 40+ years for reasons such as corporate governance, pension records, or infrastructure documentation. If business or IT teams can’t quickly locate and open these files it can create serious compliance, legal, and operational risks.
Better together: Optimizing costs and compliance for long-term content
This is why Microsoft is excited to work with Preservica who recently announced an embedded integration of their Active Digital Preservation technology with Microsoft 365 Archive via their Preserve365 software. Our ongoing collaboration with Preservica helps ensure that archived SharePoint site content not only remains secure and cost-effective, but also available to admins in trusted, readable, and accessible formats over decades.
Preserve365 admin center for archiving and actively preserving SharePoint sites“We are pleased to expand our collaboration with Microsoft to bring Active Digital Preservation to Microsoft 365 Archive customers. Using Preserve365®, IT and IG teams can now seamlessly archive and actively preserve high-value SharePoint sites to ensure critical long-term files are instantly viewable in trusted, readable formats for compliance, legal and AI-driven initiatives.” – Stuart Reed, Chief Product Officer, Preservica
You can read more below – but also be sure to join our demo webinar on January 28 10am PT to go deeper and see the integration in action.
Better together: Microsoft 365 Archive + Active Digital Preservation
Microsoft 365 Archive enables organizations to archive inactive SharePoint sites into low-cost, secure storage - preserving site structure and content for full restoration.
According to Preservica, their embedded preservation adds to this native capability, enabling organizations with high-value sites to additionally:
- Initiate archiving and preservation through an integrated SharePoint user interface.
- Automatically convert files into trusted, readable formats - supporting 1,000+ non-Microsoft file types including complex assets like AV, CAD, GIS, and websites.
- Supports authenticity and integrity with tamper-evident preservation and full audit trails.
- Enable instant access to preserved files for business teams via SharePoint search - no restore or download required.
- Track and manage archived sites through Microsoft 365 Archive admin, with full restoration options.
📅 Join our joint demo webinar on January 28 at 10am PT / 6pm GMT to see the integration in action and learn how it can help your organization optimize storage, reduce risk and unlock long-term value.
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