Microsoft Teams Storage Location
Microsoft Teams chats are persistent, this means the chat will always be available. Though, we can retain or delete the chat data by creating retention policies from Security & Compliance Center for Teams chat and channel messages.
But, where does the chat data and files shared in chat get stored ?
Teams stores chat data in a primary storage and secondary storage for compliance. Below is the brief details about Teams storage locations.
| Data | Primary Storage | Secondary Storage |
| Messages | The Chat service stores its messages in Azure Cosmos DB. | Compliance records for messages are stored in group and personal Exchange Online mailboxes [Under a hidden folder in mailbox] |
| Images | Media service (Azure) using blob storage. | Any images referenced in messages are also copied in compliance records and stored in Exchange Online. |
| Files | Personal files are in users’ OneDrive for Business accounts. Files shared in channels are in the team’s SharePoint document library. | |
| Voicemail | Personal Exchange mailboxes. | |
| Recordings | Meeting recordings are captured in a media service in Azure (blob storage). | Within 24 hours, the recordings are ingested by Stream and available as video/audio files there. |
| Calendars | Group and personal Exchange mailboxes. | |
| Contacts | Personal Exchange mailboxes. | |
Can you please backup this statement with some Microsoft documentation? “The Chat service stores its messages in Azure Cosmos DB.”
Hello Glenn,
I don’t have MS documentation link, but this is what I got from Microsoft Teams trainings and books.