You can delete a community if you're the community's admin, a network admin, or a verified admin.
To delete a community that's backed by a Microsoft 365 group—you must be a network admin and also the Group admin of that community.
When a community is deleted, the messages in that community are deleted and immediately removed from search results and end-user views.
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If your network retention settings are set to Delete, the deleted conversations are retained for 30 days, after which time they're permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered.
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If your network retention settings are set to Archive, the deleted conversations are indefinitely retained.
Delete a community
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In the Viva Engage community you want to delete, to the right of the community name, select the More options icon, and then select Settings.
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In the Settings dialog, in the lower left corner, select Delete this community.
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In the Delete community confirmation page, select Delete.
Delete a public community
Use this procedure when you need to first delete all of the conversations and files for the public community.
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In the Edit settings section, change Public: anyone in your network can view and join this community to Private: only approved community members can view or participate.
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In the lower right corner of the Settings dialog, select Save.
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Repeat step 1.
If you need to restore deleted files
When you delete a community that is a Microsoft 365 connected group, its deleted Microsoft 365 resources are available for 30 days. Depending on the data retention policies your verified admin has set for your Viva Engage network, deleted Viva Engage data may still be available in data exports.
If you need to retrieve deleted data, contact persons in your organization who have administrative permissions. In a large organization, that's typically the Help desk, IT, or technical support department. For more information, see Restore a deleted Microsoft 365 group.
