How do we know when the SharePoint site was last updated?
We have a several site objects on when the site was modified last time:
- Site LastContentModifiedDate
- Web LastItemModifiedDate
- Web LastItemUserModifiedDate
- MS Graph LastModifiedDateTime
- GUI Last activity
And we can modify site in a multiple ways – update document or list item on the site, change library or site settings, configure site permissions, assign site sensitivity label, setup site property and so on.
Question: which actions impact which “last modified” values? Or, in other words, which site “last modified” properties reflects which events?
This might be important if we think of retention policies, or any kind of clean-up processes…
Let say, we are getting report on abandoned sites (inactive sites), but recently we assigned sites sensitivity labels, or we are updating site custom properties (e.g. for adaptive scopes), we have an ownerless groups policy working etc.
What if we assign site sensitivity label to an inactive (5 years old site) – would it affect site retention since site was updated?
Results
Based on detailed results below, it seems like
MS Graph site property LastModifiedDateTime equals root web property LastItemModifiedDate
If site custom property is updated – it does not affect any site “last modified” property.
The same for sensitivity label updated by app – it does not affect any site “last modified” property.
The same for Microsoft ownerless groups policy – when user accept or decline group membership – no site “last modified” properties are changed.
Detailed test results
Test results if the event triggers property update:
Event | Last Content Modified Date | Last Item Modified Date | Last Item User Modified Date | Graph Last Modified DateTime | GUI Last activity |
Page viewed by user | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Document or list item updated by user | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Document or list item updated by app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Site property updated by app | No | No | No | No | |
Site Sensitivity label updated by user via SharePoint | Yes | No | No | No | |
Site/Group Sensitivity label updated by user via Teams | |||||
Site/Group Sensitivity label updated by user via Azure | No | No | No | No | |
Site Sensitivity label updated by app | No | No | No | No | |
Site collection admin updated by user | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Site collection admin updated by app | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
SharePoint group membership updated by user | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Standalone Site connected to a group by user | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Add Microsoft Teams to Site by User | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Update m365 group membership via M365 admin console by admin | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
Update m365 group membership via Azure by admin | |||||
Update m365 group membership via Teams by user | No | No | No | Yes | |
Update m365 group membership via App | |||||
Accept group ownership invitation sent by ownerless groups policy | No | No | No | No | |
Decline group ownership invitation sent by ownerless groups policy | No | No | No | No | |