What are the steps to classify Teams and Slack messages to a file plan?

Collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack generate content that can qualify as records: decisions, approvals, instructions, and substantive discussion. Classifying that content to a file plan means associating each record with the right category, so it inherits the correct retention, access, and disposition rules. The work is mostly policy and process, with technology in a supporting role.

Decide what is a record first

Not every message is a record. Apply your organization’s recordkeeping criteria: does the message document a business activity, a decision, or an obligation? Casual chatter, reactions, and ephemeral coordination usually are not records. Document these criteria in policy so users and reviewers apply them consistently.

Steps to classify chat messages

1. Map your file plan to chat activity. Identify which file-plan categories collaboration messages are likely to fall into (for example, project files, HR matters, or contracts), and confirm the retention rule for each.
2. Define capture scope. Decide what gets captured: channels, direct messages, threads, edits, attachments, and reactions. Capturing context (who, when, the surrounding thread) matters as much as the message text.
3. Capture the content with metadata intact. Export or ingest messages along with author, timestamp, channel, and thread identifiers. Reliable metadata is what makes later classification and defensible disposition possible.
4. Assign a file-plan category. Map each message or conversation to a category. This can be driven by where the conversation lives (channel-to-category mapping), by rules, or by reviewer judgment for ambiguous items.
5. Apply retention and disposition. Once classified, the record inherits its category’s retention period and disposition action. Apply legal holds where applicable so held records are not destroyed.
6. Review and audit. Sample classifications periodically, reconcile against policy, and document decisions to support accountability.

Keep it sustainable

Standardize channel naming and usage so location signals category. Train users on what belongs in a chat versus a system of record, and automate the routine mapping while reserving human review for sensitive or ambiguous content. Recognizing the records early, capturing them with full metadata, and aligning categories to retention rules is what keeps the program defensible over time.

For related guidance, see the email and messaging topic hub.