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SharePoint Online: Create Multiple Subsites from a CSV File using PowerShell

Salaudeen Rajack 2 Comments

Requirement: Create Multiple subsites in SharePoint Online using PowerShell.

SharePoint Online: How to Create Multiple Subsites using PowerShell?

Creating multiple subsites in SharePoint Online can be a tedious process and can be a lot of work if you have to do it one by one. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to automate the process? Fortunately, there is a PowerShell script that will make the process much easier. I’ll show you how to use PowerShell to bulk create subsites in this post.

Creating a subsite in SharePoint Online with PowerShell is explained in my other article: How to Create a Subsite using PowerShell in SharePoint Online?, You can create multiple subsites in SharePoint Online by a simple array and looping as:

#Site collection URL
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet"

#Connect to Pnp Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Credentials (Get-Credential)

#Define subsites in array
$Subsites = "Sales","Production", "Marketing", "Support"

#Iterate through each site
ForEach($Site in $Subsites)
{
    #Create subsite
    New-PnPWeb -Title $Site -Url $Site -InheritNavigation -Template STS#3
}

This can be helpful if you need to create a large number of subsites and don’t want to do it manually.

PowerShell to Create Subsites from CSV File in SharePoint Online

Create a CSV file in the below format. Populate the column values according to your requirements. For each subsite, set the below properties:

  1. SiteCollectionURL – Parent site collection for subsite
  2. SubSiteTitle – Name of the subsite
  3. Description – Subsite Description
  4. URL – Subsite URL
  5. BreakInheritance – By default, Subsite Inherits Permissions from Parent
  6. Template – Template of the Sub-Site 

Here is my CSV File

SharePoint Online Create Multiple Subsites from a CSV File using PowerShell

You can download CSV File here:

Bulk Subsite creation CSV Template

PowerShell to Create Subsites from CSV

This PnP PowerShell script reads the CSV file and creates a subsite on the given site collection from details in the CSV.

#Function to Create Subsite
Function Create-PnPSubsite
{
  param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$SiteCollectionURL  = $(throw "Please Enter the Site Collection URL!"),
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$Title  = $(throw "Please Enter the Subsite Title!"),
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$URL = $(throw "Please Enter the Subsite URL!"),
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [string]$Description = [string]::Empty,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [string]$BreakInheritance = "False",
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string]$Template = $(throw "Please Provide the Site Template!")
    )
    Try{
        #Connect to PnP Online
        Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteCollectionURL -Credentials $Cred #-Interactive

        #Check if subsite exists
        $Subsite = Get-PnPWeb -Identity $URL -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        If($Subsite -eq $null) 
        {
            #Create subsite
            $BreakInheritanceFlag = [System.Convert]::ToBoolean($BreakInheritance) 
            $SubSite = New-PnPWeb -Title $Title -Url $URL -Description $Description -BreakInheritance:$BreakInheritanceFlag -Template $Template 
            Write-Host "Created Subsite:"$URL -ForegroundColor Green
        }
        Else
        {
            Write-Host "Subsite already exist:"$URL -ForegroundColor Yellow
        }
    }
    catch {
        write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
    }
}

#Set CSV File path
$CSVFilePath = "C:\Temp\Subsites.csv"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential

#Read from CSV and call the function to create subsites
Import-Csv $CSVFilePath | ForEach-Object {
   Create-PnPSubsite -SiteCollectionURL $_.SiteCollectionURL -Title $_.SubSiteTitle -URL $_.URL -Description $_.Description -BreakInheritance $_.BreakInheritance -Template $_.Template 
}

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!

2 thoughts on “SharePoint Online: Create Multiple Subsites from a CSV File using PowerShell”

  • Hello there. Keep getting the below error. All i have done is edited the csv and updated the path. Any clues please?

    At C:UsersTechnoMattersOneDrive – TechnoMattersDesktopMigrationSPSubsite creation.ps1:23 char:110
    + … ue)] [string]$Template = $(throw “Please Provide the Site Template!”)
    + ~
    Missing closing ‘)’ in expression.
    At C:UsersTechnoMattersOneDrive – TechnoMattersDesktopMigrationSPSubsite creation.ps1:15 char:1
    + {
    + ~
    Missing closing ‘}’ in statement block or type definition.
    At C:UsersTechnoMattersOneDrive – TechnoMattersDesktopMigrationSPSubsite creation.ps1:24 char:9
    +     )
    + ~
    Unexpected token ‘)’ in expression or statement.
    At C:UsersTechnoMattersOneDrive – TechnoMattersDesktopMigrationSPSubsite creation.ps1:46 char:1
    + }
    + ~
    Unexpected token ‘}’ in expression or statement.
    + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParseException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingEndParenthesisInExpression

    Reply

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