RemoteMicrosoft 365 groups
Group, Team, list or shared mailbox? Pick the one that fits the job.
Microsoft 365 has five ways to put people together, and they are not interchangeable. Pick the wrong one and you get duplicate Teams, mail nobody owns and access that never gets removed. Here is what each is for, how they connect, how to clean up, and a picker that tells you which to create.
Based on Microsoft Learn documentation, checked 30 October 2026.
- Five options compared
- Sprawl and cleanup
- Which-one picker
Reviewed by Blake Bath, General Manager, on 30 October 2026.
What we find
What group sprawl looks like.
These show up in almost every tenant we review.
Unowned collaboration spaces
A group can connect mail, files, planning and Teams, with additional sites for private and shared channels.
- Owner register
- Two owners
- Purpose recorded
Membership and separate access paths
Group membership, channel membership, direct file sharing, application grants and security-group access can be different paths.
- Full offboarding
- Links reviewed
- Access verified
External collaboration scope
A guest in the parent team can access its standard-channel work; a private channel has its own audience, and a shared channel can include people outside the parent team.
- Sponsor and end date
- Narrowest access
- Tested
Data location and protection
An Australian organisation name does not prove every workload is stored in Australia.
- Residency checked
- Labels
- Obligations recorded
Ambiguous names and lifecycle settings
Similar names can hide different memberships, addresses and dependencies.
- Naming
- Expiry policy
- Identifiers recorded
Which one should we create?
Which one should you create?
Pick what you are trying to do, who needs to be in it and how long. You get the right object and how to set it up.
Pick what you are trying to do. You get the right Microsoft 365 object and how to set it up so it does not become clutter.
Use this
Microsoft Teams
Use a team with the appropriate membership and channel design. Reuse a suitable existing group rather than creating a duplicate.
Includes: Team backed by Microsoft 365 Group membership; Standard-channel files in the parent SharePoint site; Separate sites for private and shared channels; Apps and meetings subject to the selected service plan.
- Name it so people can tell what it is, and give it two owners.
The five options
The five options, side by side.
| Option | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Group | A shared membership boundary for continuing collaboration | Group mailbox and calendar; Associated SharePoint team site |
| Microsoft Teams | Channel conversations, meetings and shared project work | Team backed by Microsoft 365 Group membership; Standard-channel files in the parent SharePoint site |
| Distribution group | Delivering email to a maintained recipient list | Group email address; Delivery to recipients rather than a shared workspace |
| Security group | Assigning access to supported resources and applications | Microsoft Entra ID security object; Supported user or device membership |
| Shared mailbox | A single operational inbox managed by several internal staff | Shared mailbox and calendar; Access through each delegate's licensed account |
Watch for
What to watch for with each.
- Microsoft 365 GroupA group mailbox is not the same object as a delegated shared mailbox. Creating a group does not automatically create a Teams team.
- Microsoft TeamsTeams is a collaboration experience, not a separate directory group type. Use an existing suitable group where appropriate.
- Distribution groupUse for announcements when recipients need the message, not a shared work area. Verify membership, allowed senders and external delivery.
- Security groupCreating the group does not give it permissions until a resource uses it. Check application support, nesting and membership sources.
- Shared mailboxMicrosoft allows up to 50 GB without a separate mailbox licence, but delegates need licensed Exchange Online mailboxes. Capacity, archiving, holds and advanced features can require additional licensing.
Getting on top of sprawl
A seven-step cleanup that does not lose records.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Inventory objects and dependencies | Collect group, team, channel-site, distribution and shared-mailbox records from the appropriate admin centres or supported reports. |
| 2. Ask an owner to classify stale work | Review ownerless or apparently inactive spaces with the relevant business team. |
| 3. Validate external and delegated access | Check each guest sponsor, channel audience, shared link, application grant and mailbox delegate. |
| 4. Plan consolidation rather than a blind merge | Choose the authoritative destination and map files, versions, messages, Planner work, tabs, links and connected applications separately. |
| 5. Record ownership and recovery | Assign a business owner and backup, with purpose, audience, classification and closure criteria. |
| 6. Pilot supported expiry settings | Microsoft lists one Entra expiration policy, applying to selected or all Microsoft 365 Groups, with the required P1 or P2 entitlement for affected members. |
| 7. Maintain a review process | Choose a cadence suited to sensitivity, turnover and contract duties, with reviews after project closure or role changes. |
Group expiration is not a retention policy. Deleted Microsoft 365 Groups can be restored for 30 days, and expiry notices go out 30, 15 and 1 day before.
Our view
Control creation, not just cleanup.
Cleaning up a tenant once is easy. Keeping it clean needs a simple request process for new Teams, a naming rule, two owners on everything, and an expiry policy on project spaces so they get reviewed when the work ends.
And the most common mistake we fix: shared mailboxes with a password everyone knows. Block sign-in, give named people access, and nobody needs the password.
The order
Bringing order to Microsoft 365 groups in five steps.
- Step 1Inventory
Every group, Team, list and shared mailbox, with owners.
- Step 2Classify
Keep, fix, archive or delete, decided with the business.
- Step 3Check outside access
Guests, shared channels and links.
- Step 4Set the rules
Request process, naming and two owners.
- Step 5Review on a schedule
Expiry for projects, reviews for the rest.
Related guides
Groups are one part. Governance is the rest.
Sites, mailboxes and the tenant settings behind them.
Get help your way
Six ways to reach us. Pick whichever suits you.
Helpdesk hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm AEST. On Advantage and above, emergencies get a response within 1 hour and outages within 2, with 24/7 best-effort escalation.
- Call 07 3114 2808
An engineer answers Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm AEST. After hours, weekends and public holidays, Chip, our AI agent, answers on the same number or on 07 3180 0965, logs it and escalates urgent incidents to the on-call engineer.
Call now - Email the helpdesk
Send it to helpdesk@realbytes.com.au and a ticket is logged straight away, with a reference number you can quote.
Email us - Client portal
Log and follow your tickets, see what we are working on and who has it.
Open the portal - Remote support
When an engineer asks to see your screen, start a secure session here. You start it, so nobody sees your screen until you do.
Start a session - Chat in Microsoft Teams
Clients can message Chip, our AI assistant, in Teams to log a request without leaving their desk.
How clients reach us - Service status
Check whether Microsoft 365 or another cloud service is down before you lose an hour troubleshooting.
See live status
Questions
What people ask about groups, Teams and lists.
Should we use a Team or a distribution list?
A distribution list if people only need to receive emails. A Team if people need to work together with chat, files and meetings. Creating a Team for every mailing list is how tenants end up with hundreds of empty Teams.
What is the difference between a Microsoft 365 Group and a distribution group?
A distribution group delivers email to recipients; a Microsoft 365 Group supplies shared membership and a connected collaboration workspace. The group mailbox, calendar and SharePoint site are different from an ordinary email list. Teams can be added to a suitable group, but is not created by every group.
Does every Teams team have a Microsoft 365 Group?
Yes, a Microsoft 365 Teams team uses an underlying group for team membership. Standard channels use the parent SharePoint site, while private and shared channels have separate sites and audiences. This does not mean every private chat or meeting creates a group.
Is a shared mailbox always free?
No. Microsoft allows up to 50 GB without a separate licence for the mailbox, but each delegate needs a licensed Exchange Online mailbox. Larger capacity, archiving, holds or advanced features can require additional licences. Keep direct sign-in blocked and grant access through named delegates.
Does group expiration replace retention and access reviews?
No. Expiration manages the lifecycle of selected Microsoft 365 Groups and can delete an unrenewed group; it is not a record-retention schedule or a membership review. Active groups can renew automatically, and deletion affects connected services. Check entitlement, dependencies and holds before enabling it.
Can we merge duplicate Teams and move every conversation automatically?
Not through a single universal Microsoft 365 group-merge operation. Plan files, conversations, planning data, links and app dependencies separately, using supported migration methods where available. Validate access and required records before closing or deleting a source workspace.
Do Microsoft 365 Groups guarantee Australian data storage?
No. Verify the data-location commitments for the tenant and individual workloads, along with external collaboration and connected applications. Sensitivity labels do not determine physical storage location. Applicable privacy and contractual obligations require their own assessment, not a blanket claim based on the organisation's address.
Next step
Want a tenant people can find things in?
We inventory your groups, Teams and mailboxes, clean up with the business, and set the rules that keep it tidy.
Keep reading
Reviewed by Blake Bath, General Manager, on 30 October 2026. From Microsoft Learn. Checked 30 October 2026. Microsoft Learn, Compare groups in Microsoft 365; Microsoft Learn, About shared mailboxes; Microsoft Learn, Microsoft 365 group expiration; Microsoft Learn, Teams-connected SharePoint sites; Microsoft Learn, Microsoft 365 data residency