How to Delete a Document Library in SharePoint using PowerShell?
Task: Delete document library in SharePoint with PowerShell
How to Delete a Document Library in SharePoint?
Document Libraries are used to store and manage Microsoft Office documents, PDF files, and other types of files within SharePoint. To delete a document library in SharePoint, follow these steps:
- Browse to your SharePoint Site
- Click on Site Settings gear >> Site Contents
- Click on the “Remove” link from the context menu of the library. Alternatively, You can go to Library Settings >> Click on “Delete this document library” to remove a document library in SharePoint.
Now, there are scenarios where you want to utilize PowerShell to remove a document library in SharePoint, such as SharePoint UI doesn’t provide a delete option, You want to delete libraries in bulk, etc. Here is the PowerShell to delete a document library in SharePoint 2013.
Delete document library in SharePoint using PowerShell:
$WebURL="http://intranet.crescent.com/"
$LibraryName="Documents"
#Get Web and List objects
$web = Get-SPWeb $WebURL
$list = $web.Lists[$LibraryName]
#delete sharepoint document library using powershell
$list.Delete()
This removes the document library in SharePoint 2010 with PowerShell. While the above script is fairly simple and permanently deletes the given document library from SharePoint – without sending it to recycle bin, let us add some error handling and make it a re-usable function.
Delete SharePoint document library using PowerShell
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
#Custom function to delete SharePoint document library using powershell
Function Delete-SPDocLibrary
{
param
(
[string]$WebURL = $(throw "Please Enter the Web URL!"),
[string]$LibraryName = $(throw "Please Enter the Library Name to delete!")
)
try {
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
#Get the Objects
$Web = Get-SPWeb $WebURL
$Library = (Get-SPWeb $WebURL).Lists.TryGetList($LibraryName)
if($Library)
{
#Set Allow Delete Flag
$Library.AllowDeletion = $true
$Library.Update()
#delete document library from sharepoint using powershell - Send library to Recycle bin
$Library.Recycle() | Out-Null
#TO permanently delete a library, Use:
#$Library.Delete()
Write-Host "Library: $($LibraryName) deleted successfully from: $($WebURL)" -f Green
}
else
{
Write-Host "Library: $($LibraryName) doesn't exist at $($WebURL)" -f Red
}
}
catch {
write-host "Error Deleting Library..." $_.Exception.Message
}
finally {
$ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
$web.Dispose()
}
}
#Call the function to delete library
Delete-SPDocLibrary "http://intranet.crescent.com/" "Documents"
Here is my another post on how to delete a document library in SharePoint Online: Delete Document Library in SharePoint Online using PowerShell
