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If you’re reading this blog, you’ve likely run into this situation: You’re building a marketing journey with a specific segment in mind. You’ve used the segment before, so there’s no need to rebuild it—except now, you can’t find it. And if you didn’t deactivate it, then where did it go?
In this blog, we’ll walk through what happened to your segments, where to find them, how to reactivate them, and why these changes were made.
What we cover:
The vanishing of my segments
Starting February 17th, 2026, Microsoft introduced a new update called Automated segment management. One key component of this update is that segments that remain unused for 120 days are automatically transitioned to an “expired” state. This means that if your segment is not included in an active journey for 120 days, your system will deem it unnecessary to continue refreshing and will categorize it as expired. The purpose is to improve system performance by removing unutilized items.
That doesn’t mean that the segments are gone for good, though! It’s important to note that “expired” is one of many status reasons a segment can be categorized under, and expired segments can be easily reactivated for continued use.
You may also have noticed that some segments have transitioned to an expired state even though you used them more recently than 120 days ago. This is because during the initial release of this update, unused segments expired after 30 days. After another update on April 21st, 2026, the inactivity limit was changed to 120 days, giving you more runway to utilize and maintain your frequently used segments. Currently, the auto-deactivation feature cannot be disabled.
In this state, your segments may be difficult to find, depending on your default and other commonly used views within Customer Insights – Journeys. To locate these missing segments, navigate to your segments list and select a view that shows all your created segments, not just active ones, including expired, inactive, ready-to-use, or draft-state segments. By default, the system will include an “All Segments” view, and you may have customized others with similar parameters that also show these same segment statuses.
Image: A system image of the saved segment views
Image: A Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys system image of an inactive/expired "Status Reason"
Image: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journey system image of an expired segment
Retrieving expired segments
Now that you know where to find the expired segments, let’s discuss how to recover them. To use your segments again, they must be reactivated.
- Locate and select the expired segment you wish to recover
- Select “Activate” in the top right corner of the selected segment
- Set the “Status reason” to “Draft”
- Select “Ready to use” in the top right corner
Once completed, the segment will be active again and ready to use.
It is important to note that selecting the status reason “Ready to use” before setting the segment to draft may result in an error. This is a known issue/bug that Microsoft is working to resolve. Until this bug is resolved, be sure to first set the status reason to draft, then select the blue “ready to use” button to avoid this error.
Image: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys system image of a segment be activated
Image: Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys system image of a segment going from "Draft" to "Ready to use"
Creating a custom view for expired segments
To better manage your segments moving forward, it can be helpful to create a custom view that lists expired segments. This is a quick and easy task, and once you have the view created, you will be able to click back and forth to view which segments have been automatically transitioned to expired.
- Select the “Status Reason.”
- Choose the “filter by” option in the dropdown menu
- Select “Expired” and “Inactive” in the bottom menu and click Apply
- Choose the last update column and sort “Newer to older”
- Select the dropdown menu button next to “All Segments” and save as a new view
Image: System image of Dynamics 365 CRM segments list view, selecting the “Status Reason” filter
Image: System image of Dynamics 365 CRM segments list view, selecting the expired filter
You can now switch between views that show your filtered list of expired and inactive segments. If you are noticing large amounts of segments being categorized as “Inactive” and you know you did not deactivate them, it is likely because they are “expired”. Once you click into an inactive segment, you will be able to see the “expired” tag.
Looking for more information on using filters and columns to create custom views? →
Other updates
Along with segment expiration, automated segment management includes other key updates related to segment refresh rates:
Newly created unused segments: Once a segment is created, it will continue to be refreshed every 30 minutes to ensure the accuracy of audience data for the first 24 hours. If the segment is still not actively used after the first 24 hours, it switches to a 24-hour refresh cycle to improve system performance.
Segments in active journeys without interaction filters: Segments that are actively used in a journey or referenced by another segment or email are refreshed every 30 minutes to ensure that they have the most up-to-date audience data.
Segments in active journeys with at least one interaction filter: Segments that are actively used in a journey or referenced by another segment or email are refreshed every 60 minutes to ensure that they have the most up-to-date audience data.
Segments no longer used in any active journey: If a segment is not being used in any active journey, it is moved to a 24-hour refresh cycle. If it continues to be unused for 120 days, it is then moved to the expired state. When expired, it does not count toward segment limits and is no longer evaluated, helping improve system performance.
These changes help ensure that active segments remain up to date, while reducing unnecessary processing for inactive ones.
Why was my system updated?
Microsoft’s purpose for this update is to improve system performance in Customer Insights – Journeys. By reducing the frequency of inactive segment refreshes, systems can operate more efficiently and focus resources on active journeys. This also reduces the need for manual cleanup, allowing teams to spend less time managing segments and more time focusing on their marketing. At the same time, active segments continue to refresh frequently, helping maintain accurate audience data.
As a cloud-based software, updates are regularly rolled out and applied to customer environments. Monthly updates, like automatic segment deactivation, are rarely communicated to users, but major updates, like twice-annual Release Waves, are published and made available with plenty of resources available for planning and testing.
Now that we have clarified what’s happening behind the scenes, you can move forward with a better understanding of where your segments are and how to manage them. Knowing how to locate and reactivate expired segments helps you avoid disruptions and continue building your journeys with confidence.
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