Project Settings/Team Configuration: Is there a way to archive old iterations for work items

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Project Settings/Team Configuration: Is there a way to archive old iterations for work items

Karen May 20

In project settings -> team configuration is there a way to close or archive old iterations, so team members do not assign work items to past or closed iterations. We are finding that team members are selecting past iterations and would like to close or archive.

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Yes. Azure DevOps supports archiving old iterations by moving past sprint nodes under another iteration node such as Archive or Previous Sprints.

Key behavior:

Moving an iteration updates all work items to the new iteration path automatically.
Work item data is retained.
Teams can deselect past sprints so they no longer appear in team sprint selections.
If a sprint is moved under a different sprint node and the sprint assignment is maintained, sprint charts and widgets continue to work.

A practical approach:

Go to Project settings > Project configuration > Iterations.
Create an iteration node such as Archive or Previous Sprints.
For each old iteration, open the context menu, select Edit, and change the Location field to move it under the archive node.
For team cleanup, deselect those past sprints from the team’s iteration selections so team members are less likely to use them.

Important:

Iterations do not enforce rules by themselves. A work item can still be assigned to an iteration even if work was not completed during that iteration.
Deleting or reconfiguring iteration paths can cause irreversible loss of historical chart data, including burndown, burnup, velocity, and historical trend charts. Moving old iterations to an archive node is the safer option.

If the goal is to prevent accidental assignment to past sprints, archiving by moving old iterations and removing them from team selections is the supported method described in the documentation.

References:

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1 additional answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi @Karen May ,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q & A !

Azure DevOps does not provide a Close or Archive status for iteration paths that prevents users from assigning work items to past iterations.

For organizational cleanup, a team administrator can go to Project settings > Boards > Team configuration > Iterations and remove completed iterations from the team’s selected iterations. When an iteration is no longer selected for a team, it no longer appears in that team’s sprint planning views and tools. However, this does not prevent users from manually assigning the corresponding Iteration Path to a work item.

Refresh the team’s sprint view to confirm that the selected iterations have changed.

Retain the project-level iteration paths rather than deleting them solely for cleanup. If you choose to reorganize them, capture any required reports first.

Therefore, removing past iterations from the team configuration helps reduce clutter, but the standard iteration configuration does not enforce a restriction that prevents work items from being assigned to past iterations.

Microsoft Learn references:

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