Is the conversation stored after a channel is deleted?

[shawn_fielding]

Hi all,

Just like the subject says, I know that the documents folders stay in place after you delete a channel, but is the conversation also stored in Exchange or wherever for e-discovery purposes?  I'd love to delete some channels, but we have a retention period in which this needs to be kept.  

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hello, the channel chats (all chats) are actually stored in Azure Cosmos DB and are only written to the user mailbox or group mailbox, the latter for channel conversations, with the data objects necessary for compliance reasons. The folder is hidden and you cannot extract the chats from the mailboxes manually for ex.

When it comes deletion, it's 30 days by judging from the latest docs info, if not being affected by features such as retention policy (only for messages not entire channels) or legal/eDiscovery hold.

"Deleted channels can be restored within 30 days. During these 30 days, a deleted channel continues to be counted towards the 200 channel or 30 private channel per team limit. After 30 days, a deleted channel and its content are permanently deleted and the channel no longer counts towards the per team limit."

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/limits-specifications-teams#teams-and-channels

This is quite a old article but I'm adding it on the topic (here 21 days) https://office365itpros.com/2019/04/02/deleting-teams-channel-sharepoint-folder/