How to Delete a SharePoint Site in Microsoft 365: Step-by-Step Guide

SharePoint Online site collection is a collection of sites grouped under a common URL and typically share a common navigation, branding, features, security, etc. When it comes to managing content in SharePoint Online, you may, at some point, need to delete a site when you no longer need it. E.g., a Project completed, a Temporary site, or maybe it was created mistakenly. Whatever the reason, you can delete a site in SharePoint Online to free up storage space and other resources by following the steps outlined in this tutorial. We will cover the steps required to delete SharePoint sites, whether they are classic sites or modern sites. We will look at the permissions required, where to go in the SharePoint admin center to delete sites, recycle bins to be aware of, and understand the proper procedures for permanently removing SharePoint sites when they need to be cleaned up or eliminated.

How to Delete a Modern SharePoint Site?

As a SharePoint Online Site Admin, you can delete any SharePoint site in the tenant. This article will walk you through the process of deleting your site entirety, which includes all data, lists, libraries, and files associated with it. Before you begin this process, it’s a good idea to make sure that the site is no longer required. Deleting a site collection is quite a straightforward process. To delete a SharePoint Online site collection from the Admin center, follow these steps:

1. Open SharePoint Online Admin Center as a Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator (Typically at https://tenant-admin.sharepoint.com)
2. Click on Sites >> Active Sites in the left navigation. From the site collections list, choose the site you want to delete. From the Toolbar, click Delete and then confirm by a prompt by clicking the “Delete” button in the command bar.

   

If you want to delete multiple sites, select them under the “Active Sites” list, Click on “Bulk edit” and then choose “Delete” from the toolbar!

Once deleted, the selected site will be removed from the “Active sites” list. If you selected an Office 365 group-connected site, you’d get a prompt with an option to delete the associated Microsoft 365 group as well. Deleted sites are retained for 93 days in SharePoint Online and will be permanently deleted automatically. However, the deleted Office 365 groups are kept for only 30 days in the Azure AD Recycle Bin. So, it’s a good idea to check with the group owner and make sure the site can be deleted. It’s worth checking the site usage report as well.

Deleting a SharePoint Site from Site Settings

If you have site owner or SharePoint Administrator (or site collection Admin rights), You can also delete a Modern communication site or team site by directly going to the site >> Click on the Settings gear icon >> Site Information link >> Click on the Delete Site link! Confirm the warning message prompt to delete the site!

This deletes all site contents, including site assets like document libraries, and list data associated with that particular SharePoint Online site, user information part of the site, etc., within a few minutes, depending on the size of the site (or how much data is deleted). All these methods apply to sites associated with Hub as well.

Deleting a Classic Site

Deleting unnecessary sites can help reduce clutter and simplify the management of your SharePoint environment. Here is how you can delete the site by clicking the settings icon >> site settings page and clicking on the “Delete this site” link under the “Site Actions” heading, on classic SharePoint sites.

Delete Multiple Site Collections in SharePoint Online

Similarly, You can delete multiple SharePoint Online sites using the new SharePoint Admin center by selecting more than one site collection >> Click on “Bulk Edit”>> Choose the “Delete” item in the menu and confirm the prompt!

Once deleted, You can find them under the “Deleted sites” link from the SharePoint Online admin center’s left navigation. Now, let’s delete a site collection in SharePoint Online with PowerShell!

How to Delete a SharePoint Online Site Collection Using PowerShell?

Other than the UI, Site deletion can be done with PowerShell as well. Here is the PowerShell script for SharePoint Online to delete the site collection. Use SharePoint Online Management Shell or PowerShell ISE to run these PowerShell commands.

Import-Module Microsoft.Online.Sharepoint.PowerShell

#Variables for processing
$AdminSiteURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com"
$AdminName = "salaudeen@crescent.com"
$SiteCollURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Sales"

#Credentials to connect 
$SecurePWD = ConvertTo-SecureString "Password" -asplaintext -force  
$Credential = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $AdminName, $SecurePWD
 
#Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-SPOService -url $AdminSiteURL -credential $Credential

#delete sharepoint online site collection using powershell
Remove-SPOSite -Identity $SiteCollURL -NoWait -Confirm:$false

Write-Host "Site collection has been deleted!"

SharePoint Online: Remove Site Collection with PowerShell

You can also use SharePoint Online Management Shell Remove-SPOsite PowerShell cmdlets to delete a SharePoint site:

# Variables
$AdminSiteURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com/"
$SiteCollURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/itgroup"

# Connect to sharepoint online
Connect-SPOService -url "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com/" -credential (Get-Credential)

# sharepoint online powershell delete site collection
Remove-SPOSite -Identity $SiteCollURL -NoWait -Confirm:$false

This PowerShell deletes site collection in SharePoint Online. Please note that the Remove-SPOSite does not delete a site collection permanently. But it moves the site collection to the Recycle Bin.

Remove Site Collection using PowerShell CSOM

When you delete a SharePoint Online site, all subsites, pages, lists, libraries, and content are deleted. Here is how to delete a site with a client-side object model PowerShell script:

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\SharePoint Online Management Shell\Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell\Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.Client.Tenant.dll"

#delete site collection sharepoint online powershell
Function Remove-SPOSiteCollection($AdminCenterURL,$SiteURL)
{
    Try {
        #Setup Credentials to connect
        $Cred= Get-Credential
             
        #Setup the Context
        $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($AdminCenterURL)
        $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.Username, $Cred.Password)
  
        #Get the tenant object 
        $Tenant = New-Object Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.TenantAdministration.Tenant($Ctx)

        Write-Host -f Yellow "Deleting site collection..." 
        #delete a sharepoint online site powershell
        $Tenant.RemoveSite($SiteURL) | Out-null
        #$Tenant.RemoveDeletedSite($SiteURL) #To delete site from recycle bin!
        $ctx.ExecuteQuery()
        Write-host "Site Collection Deleted Successfully!" -foregroundcolor Green
    }
    catch {
        write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
    }
}
#Set Parameters
$AdminCenterURL = "https://Crescent-admin.sharepoint.com"
$SiteURL = "https://Crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/procurement"

#Call the function to delete site collection
Remove-SPOSiteCollection $AdminCenterURL $SiteURL

What happens when a Microsoft SharePoint site is deleted? Both the above PowerShell cmdlets and the web browser methods send the site collection to the recycle bin but don’t remove the site collection permanently.

Permanently Delete a SharePoint Online Site Collection

When you delete a site collection, it goes to the recycle bin. You may want to permanently delete that site collection to reuse the storage space or recreate a new site collection with the same URL. Because, If you try to create a site collection with a deleted site in the recycle bin, SharePoint gives you a message “The site address is available with modification” and doesn’t allow you to use the same URL!

How to Delete a Site Permanently in SharePoint Online?

How to permanently delete a SharePoint Online site? Here are the steps to delete a site collection permanently in SharePoint Online:

1. Login to the new admin center site.
2. Click on “Deleted Sites” from the left navigation. This lists all deleted sites in the tenant within the past 93 days.
3. Select the site you want to permanently delete, click the “Permanently Delete” button in the Toolbar, and click on “Delete” in the confirmation box.

However, if you try to permanently delete a modern Office 365 group site using the above steps, You’ll find the Permanently delete button is disabled! So, the only way to permanently remove deleted Modern sites is PowerShell! Let’s delete a site collection in SharePoint Online using PowerShell.

SharePoint Online PowerShell to Delete Site Collection Permanently from Recycle Bin

We can use PowerShell to remove a deleted site in SharePoint Online. To permanently delete site collection from the recycle bin, use the below script in SharePoint Online Management Shell: 

$DeletedSiteCollURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/deletedsite"

#Remove Deleted SharePoint Online Site Collection permanently
Remove-SPODeletedSite -identity $DeletedSiteCollURL -Confirm:$false

This deletes the site from the recycle bin. Replace the $DeletedSiteCollURL with the site URL you wish to delete from the recycle bin.

SharePoint Online PnP PowerShell to Delete a Site Collection

Here is how to delete a particular site collection in SharePoint Online using PnP PowerShell: Specify the site’s URL per your tenant.

#Config Variables
$SiteURL = "https://Crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Procurement"

#Connect to PnP Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive
    
#sharepoint online delete site collection powershell
Remove-PnPTenantSite -Url $SiteURL -Force 

To permanently delete site collection with PnP PowerShell, use the -SkipRecycleBin switch.

Remove-PnPTenantSite -Url $SiteURL -Force -SkipRecycleBin

The site will be permanently deleted when you use the SkipRecycleBin switch. Once the site is permanently deleted, You are left with Microsoft support, in case you want to restore a deleted SharePoint site.

To remove a deleted site collection from the recycle bin with PnP PowerShell, use the below cmdlet:

Remove-PnPTenantSite -Url $SiteURL -FromRecycleBin 

Removing stale content not only helps us to reduce storage costs, but also helps users to find the right content they’re looking for more quickly – as we remove unnecessary sites. If you’ve accidentally deleted a SharePoint Online site, don’t worry – it can be restored within 93 days! Here are the necessary steps to restore a deleted site: How to Restore a Deleted Site in SharePoint Online?

• Delete Office 365 Group Site Collection using PowerShell
• SharePoint Online: Delete Site Collection from Recycle Bin using PowerShell
• How to Delete an Office 365 Group using PowerShell?
• How to Delete a SharePoint on-premise site collection from a web application?
• How to restore a SharePoint site from the recycle bin?