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📦 How to Manage Sites in Bulk
The Sites Bulk Management feature allows administrators to efficiently include or exclude large numbers of SharePoint sites from automated archiving policies. Instead of updating sites one at a time, you can manage them all at once — either globally or by uploading a targeted list of site URLs with optional custom policy settings.
This guide explains how to use the Sites Bulk Management modal and the Bulk Update by URL tool.
🧭 Understanding Bulk Management
Important: Bulk operations affect whether sites are included in or excluded from automated archiving policies. Including a site means Squirrel will evaluate its content for archiving based on the applicable policy. Excluding a site means Squirrel will skip it entirely during automated archiving runs.
📋 Opening the Bulk Management Modal
Navigate to the Squirrel web portal and open the Sites Bulk Management modal from the sites management area. The modal is divided into four sections: Global Settings, Database Overview, Bulk Update by URL List, and Global Bulk Operations.
⚙️ Global Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-include new sites | When enabled, any new SharePoint site detected by Squirrel will automatically be included in the archive policy. When disabled, new sites will default to excluded and must be manually included. Toggle the switch and click Save Changes to apply. |
📊 Database Overview
The Database Overview section provides a real-time summary of your site inventory:
- Total Sites — The total number of SharePoint sites tracked by Squirrel.
- Included Sites — Sites currently included in the automated archive policy.
- Excluded Sites — Sites currently excluded from the automated archive policy.
These counts update automatically after any bulk operation.
🔗 Bulk Update by URL List
This feature allows you to selectively include or exclude specific sites by pasting a list of URLs. You can also assign custom archive policy settings to included sites, overriding the global policy for those sites.
Steps to Bulk Update by URL
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Step 1: Open the URL Upload Modal | In the Bulk Management modal, click the Upload URL List button under the “Bulk Update by URL List” section. |
| Step 2: Paste Site URLs | In the text area, paste your list of SharePoint site URLs — one per line. URLs can also be separated by commas. The system validates each entry and displays a count of valid and invalid URLs. |
| Step 3: (Optional) Apply Custom Policy Settings | If you are including sites, you can check “Apply custom policy settings to included sites” to override the global archive policy. This reveals two configurable fields (see Custom Policy Settings below). |
| Step 4: Include or Exclude | Click either Include Sites or Exclude Sites to process the operation. A confirmation prompt will appear before changes are applied. |
| Step 5: Review Results | After processing, a results summary displays how many sites were updated and whether any URLs were not found in the database. You can expand the “not found” list to review unmatched URLs. |
URL Format
URLs should be full SharePoint site addresses, for example:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/ProjectAlpha https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Sales
Invalid entries (lines that are not valid URLs) are automatically detected and skipped.
🎯 Custom Archive Policy Settings
When including sites via the URL upload, you can optionally assign custom archive policy thresholds that override the global policy for those specific sites.
Available Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Last Accessed | Files will be considered for archiving if they have not been accessed within this number of days. Set to “Use Global Policy” to inherit the system-wide default. |
| Last Modified | Files will be considered for archiving if they have not been modified within this number of days. Set to “Use Global Policy” to inherit the system-wide default. |
Both conditions must be met for a file to be archived: the file must not have been accessed AND must not have been modified within their respective thresholds.
Preset and Custom Values
You can choose from preset durations (30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or 5 years) or select Custom to enter any number of days manually.
Selecting “Use Global Policy” (the default) means the site will follow whatever global archive thresholds are configured in your system settings.
🌐 Global Bulk Operations
The Global Bulk Operations section provides two high-impact actions that affect every site in the database:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Include ALL Sites | Marks every site in the system as included in the automated archive policy. |
| Exclude ALL Sites | Marks every site in the system as excluded from the automated archive policy. |
⚠️ Warning: These operations affect all sites in your database regardless of any active filters or search terms. A confirmation prompt will display the total number of affected sites before the operation proceeds.
⚠️ Important Notes
- URL Matching: Sites are matched against your Squirrel database. If a URL you provide doesn't match any known site, it will be reported in the results as “not found.”
- Custom Policies are Optional: If you do not enable custom policy settings when including sites, those sites will use the global archive policy.
- Operations are Immediate: Bulk include/exclude changes take effect immediately and will apply on the next automated archiving run.
- No Undo: There is no automatic undo for bulk operations. If you need to reverse a change, you can run the opposite bulk operation or re-upload a URL list.
✅ Conclusion
The Sites Bulk Management feature gives administrators powerful tools to control archiving at scale:
- 📋 Upload a list of site URLs to selectively include or exclude specific sites
- 🎯 Apply custom “Last Accessed” and “Last Modified” policy thresholds per site
- 🌐 Include or exclude all sites in one click for quick policy changes
- ⚙️ Control whether newly discovered sites are automatically included
- 📊 Monitor your included/excluded site counts at a glance
By combining URL-based bulk updates with custom policy settings, administrators can tailor archiving behaviour to meet the needs of different teams, projects, or compliance requirements across the organisation.