Client Side Object Model (CSOM) PnP PowerShell PowerShell SharePoint SharePoint Online Subsite 

SharePoint Online: Delete a Subsite using PowerShell

Salaudeen Rajack 3 Comments , , , ,

Requirement: SharePoint Online PowerShell to Remove a Subsite.

How to Delete a Subsite in SharePoint Online?

Any user with Full Control or Manage Hierarchy permissions within a site can delete the site in SharePoint Online when it’s no longer needed. To delete a subsite from SharePoint Online:

  • Click on Site Settings gear >> Choose “Site Settings”.
  • Click on the “Delete this site” link under the “Site Actions” group. (If you don’t see the “Delete this site” link, that means you don’t have permission to delete the site!)
    sharepoint online powershell delete subsite
  • This leads you to the “Delete this site” page. Click on the “Delete” button and confirm subsite deletion.
    delete a subsite sharepoint online
  • And you’ll get “Your Web site has been deleted.” message in a while.

SharePoint Online: How to delete a subsite?

Similarly, in modern sites, You can click on “Settings” >> Site Information >> Delete Site.

delete site in shaerpoint online

Confirm the delete by selecting the “Yes, delete this site and its associated content.” checkbox and then click on the “Delete” button. When you delete a site, you are also deleting any subsites, site content, and all data associated with the site, such as Site Settings, lists and documents libraries, etc.

Remove SharePoint Online Subsite using Sites and Workspaces

You can also remove a subsite in SharePoint Online using “Sites and Workspaces” link. Here is how:

  1. Navigate to the parent site which contains the subsite you want to delete.
  2. Click on Settings Gear >> Select Site Settings
  3. On the Site Settings page, under Site Administration section, click on “Sites and Workspaces” link.
  4. On the Sites and Workspaces page, click on the Delete icon next to the subsite to be deleted.
  5. On the Delete This Site page, click the Delete button >> click the OK button to confirm.
    sharepoint online delete subsite using sites and workspaces

This removes the subsite in SharePoint online. Let’s see how to delete subsite in SharePoint Online using PowerShell!

You need to have SharePoint Online Management Shell installed on your machine before executing these scripts. You can download it from here http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=35588

Delete a subsite in SharePoint Online using PowerShell:

How to delete a subsite in SharePoint Online using PowerShell? Well, while removing subsites in SharePoint Online using web browser UI is relatively simpler, We may need PowerShell in certain cases, such as:

  • When you have to delete subsites in bulk.
  • If you want to delete a sub-site that has its child-subsites (You’ll get this error: “There was a problem deleting Web site “/sites/Sales/apac”. Sites that have subsites or certain apps can’t be deleted. Please try again after deleting all subsites and removing the apps.”)

Here is the PowerShell to delete a subsite in SharePoint online.

#Load SharePoint Online 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"
   
#Variables for Processing
$SiteUrl = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Sales/apac/"
$UserName="[email protected]"
$Password ="Password goes here"

try{  
    #Setup Credentials to connect
    $Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName,(ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force))

    $context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteUrl)
    $context.Credentials = $credentials
    
    #get the subsite
    $web = $context.Web
    $context.Load($web)
    $context.ExecuteQuery()

    #sharepoint online powershell remove subsite
    $web.DeleteObject()
    $context.ExecuteQuery()

    Write-Host "SubSite Deleted:" $web.Title -foregroundcolor Green
}
catch{
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

This PowerShell removes SharePoint Online Subsite.

How to Delete All subsites under a Site in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?

Let’s wrap the above script into a reusable function to delete subsites recursively in a site collection!

#Load SharePoint Online 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"
   
#Variables for Processing
$SiteUrl = "https://portal.sharepoint.com/sites/Sales/apac/us/"
$UserName="[email protected]"
$Password ="password goes here"

#Function to delete a subsite and its all child sites
Function Remove-SPOWeb() {
param(
    $WebURL = $(throw "Please Enter the Subsite URL to Remove:")
)
    try{
        #Setup Credentials to connect
        $Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName,(ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force))
  
        #Get Web information and subsites
        $Context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($webURL)
        $Context.Credentials = $credentials
        #get the subsite
        $web = $context.Web
        $context.Load($web)
        $Context.Load($web.Webs)
        $Context.executeQuery() 
 
        #Iterate through each subsite in the current web
        foreach ($Subweb in $web.Webs)
        {
            #Call the function recursively to process all subsites underneaththe current web
            Remove-SPOWeb($Subweb.url)
        }

        #sharepoint online powershell delete web
        $web.DeleteObject()
        $context.ExecuteQuery()
        Write-Host "SubSite Deleted:" $web.Title -foregroundcolor Green
        }
    catch{
        write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
    }
}
 
#Call the function to remove subsite
Remove-SPOWeb -WebURL $SiteUrl

This PowerShell deletes all subsites in SharePoint Online site.

SharePoint Online PnP PowerShell to Remove Subsite

To delete a subsite in SharePoint Online using PnP PowerShell, use: Remove-PnPWeb cmdlet. Here is how to delete subsite using PnP PowerShell. 

#Config Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescenttech.sharepoint.com/Sales"
$SubsiteURL = "2018" # Just URL of the Subsite under parent site - NOT Relative Path

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
#Connect PnP Online to Parent Web
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Credentials $Cred

#sharepoint online delete subsite powershell
Remove-PnPWeb -Url $SubsiteURL -Force

The Remove-PnPWeb cmdlet permanently removes a specific subsite. However, if your subsite has any child subsites, the script will end up in error saying:
Remove-PnPWeb : There was a problem deleting Web site “/sales”. Sites that have subsites or certain apps can’t be deleted. Please try again after deleting all subsites and removing the apps.

How to Delete a Site with all its subsites using PnP PowerShell?

Here is the PnP PowerShell to delete all Subsites in SharePoint Online 

#Function to delete a subsite and its all child sites
Function Remove-PnPAllWebs([Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Web]$Web) 
{
    #Get All Subsites of the web
    $SubWebs  = Get-PnPSubWebs -Identity $Web
    ForEach($SubWeb in $SubWebs)
    {
        #Call the function recursively to remove subsites
        Remove-PnPAllWebs($SubWeb)
    }
    #Delete the subsite
    Remove-PnPWeb -Identity $Web -Force
    Write-host -f Green "Deleted Sub-Site:"$Web.URL
}

#Config Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescenttech.sharepoint.com/sales"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
#Connect PNP Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Credentials $Cred

#Get the Web 
$Web = Get-PnPWeb

#sharepoint online delete subsite powershell
Remove-PnPAllWebs $Web

If you accidentally delete a subsite, the site collection administrator can restore it from the site collection recycle bin. SharePoint Online: Restore Deleted Subsite from Recycle Bin using PowerShell

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack is a SharePoint Architect with Two decades of SharePoint Experience. He loves sharing his knowledge and experiences with the SharePoint community, through his real-world articles!

3 thoughts on “SharePoint Online: Delete a Subsite using PowerShell”

  • June 5, 2021 at 10:38 AM

    Hi Salaudeen,
    I tried delete the subsite but it deleted them permanently with no option to restore. could you please highlight or update with some text with Disclaimer that it does permanent delete

    Delete a subsite in SharePoint Online using PowerShell:

    Reply
  • December 14, 2018 at 10:38 AM

    Thanks for your help with this 🙂

    In the second script, add this line after try{
    $Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName,(ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force))

    Otherwise it will get error for not authenticating.

    Thanks
    Mahmoud

    Reply

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