SharePoint Online: How to Deprecate a Managed Metadata Term in Term Store using PowerShell?
The Managed Metadata Term Store in SharePoint Online provides a fantastic way to classify data and enhance search results using pre-defined Terms. However, there are situations where you may need to remove terms from use. So, If you decide to retire a term – Don’t delete them, but deprecate them instead. Deprecating a Term prevents the term from being used any further, and it doesn’t affect all items which are already using the specific term! Follow these steps when you decide to deprecate a term that is no longer being used or should not be used in the future!
How to deprecate a term in managed metadata Term Store?
Here is how to deprecate a term in the SharePoint Online term store:
- Login to SharePoint Online Admin Center >> Expand “Content Services” and then click on “Term store” from the left navigation.
- Traverse to the particular term you want to deprecate.
- Select the term click on the little down arrow, click on the “Deprecate Term” option from the context menu (or from the toolbar!).
Deprecated terms are displayed with a little red icon and dimmed, and the deprecated term cannot be used in new items.
Enable Deprecated Term (Un-Deprecate):
If you decide to re-enable a deprecated term, You can simply click on the “Enable Term” option from the context menu of the particular term.
How to Deprecate a Term in SharePoint Online Term Store using PowerShell?
Now, let’s deprecate a term using the CSOM-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\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Taxonomy.dll"
#Set parameter values
$SiteURL="https://crescent.sharepoint.com/"
#Termset parameters
$TermGroupName="Regions"
$TermSetName="MENA"
$TermName="UAE"
Try {
#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred= Get-Credential
$Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.Username, $Cred.Password)
#Setup the context
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = $Credentials
#Get the Taxonomy Session
$TaxonomySession = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Taxonomy.TaxonomySession]::GetTaxonomySession($Ctx);
$TermStore =$TaxonomySession.GetDefaultSiteCollectionTermStore()
$Ctx.Load($TaxonomySession)
$Ctx.Load($TermStore)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Get the Term Group
$TermGroup = $TermStore.Groups.GetByName($TermGroupName)
$Ctx.Load($TermGroup)
#Get the termset
$TermSet = $TermGroup.TermSets.GetByName($TermSetName)
$Ctx.Load($TermSet)
#Get the term
$Term = $TermSet.Terms.GetByName($TermName)
$Ctx.Load($Term)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Deprecate the Term
$Term.Deprecate($True) #$False - Enables the Term back
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
Write-host -f Green "Term has been Deprecated successfully!"
}
Catch {
write-host -f Red "Error Deprecating Term!" $_.Exception.Message
}
PnP PowerShell to Deprecate a Term in SharePoint Online
A managed metadata term can be deprecated in SharePoint Online’s Term Store to indicate that it is no longer in use. Deprecated terms are marked as inactive and can no longer be selected or added to items. Here is the PnP PowerShell script to deprecate a managed metadata term in the Term Store:
#Parameters
$AdminCenterURL = "https://Crescent-Admin.sharepoint.com"
$TermName = "DevOps Engineer"
$TermSetName = "Job Titles"
$TermGroupName = "Deals Pipeline"
#Deprecate a Term
Set-PnPTerm -Identity $TermName -TermSet $TermSetName -TermGroup $TermGroupName -Deprecated $true
