SharePoint Online: Create Modern Team Site without Office 365 Group
Requirement: Create a modern team site without a group in SharePoint Online.
SharePoint Online: Create a modern Team Site without Group
A SharePoint site collection is a logical group of sites with a common top-level site and subsites organized as a hierarchy. Every site collection shares a common top site, navigation, security, content types, etc. By default, modern team sites are created with an associated Office 365 group in SharePoint Online. Can we create a modern team site without creating a group? Yes, To create a modern SharePoint Online Site collection without creating groups, follow these steps:
- Login to New SharePoint Admin Center as a tenant admin or SharePoint Online Administrator.
- Click on Sites >> Active Sites from left navigation >> Click on “Create” >> and then “Private Site collection” to create a new site collection.
- Click on “Other Options” to create a modern team site without Office 365 group.
- Pick the site template, such as “Team site”, Provide the site Name, URL, and Administrator options, and click on “Finish” to create a site collection in SharePoint Online.
Wait for a moment, and your site collection should appear in the site collections list. Now, let’s see how to create a modern team site without a group in SharePoint Online using PowerShell.
PowerShell to Create Modern site without a Group in SharePoint Online:
Office 365 groups connect a bunch of tools from the Office 365 suite together by setting the same permissions across SharePoint, Teams, Planner, Outlook, etc. However, sometimes you may just need a standard SharePoint site without Office 365 groups. Here is the PowerShell to create a team site without a group:
#Define Variables
$AdminCenterURL = "https://crescent-Admin.sharepoint.com"
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/procurement"
$SiteTitle = "Crescent Procurement Portal"
$SiteOwner = "Salaudeen@crescent.com"
$Template = "STS#3" #Modern Team Site without O365 group
$Timezone = 4
#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
Try
{
#Connect to Tenant Admin
Connect-PnPOnline -URL $AdminCenterURL -Credential $Cred
#Check if site exists already
$Site = Get-PnPTenantSite | Where {$_.Url -eq $SiteURL}
If ($Site -eq $null)
{
#sharepoint online pnp powershell to create modern team site without group
New-PnPTenantSite -Url $SiteURL -Owner $SiteOwner -Title $SiteTitle -Template $Template -TimeZone $TimeZone -RemoveDeletedSite
write-host "Site Collection $($SiteURL) Created Successfully!" -foregroundcolor Green
}
else
{
write-host "Site $($SiteURL) exists already!" -foregroundcolor Yellow
}
}
catch {
write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}
You can also create a modern site with SharePoint Online Management Shell, as:
#Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-SPOService -url "https://Crescent-admin.sharepoint.com" -Credential (Get-credential)
#Create a modern team site
New-SPOSite -Url "https://Crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/ITHub" -Owner "Salaudeen@CrescentIntranet.Onmicrosoft.com" -StorageQuota 2048 -Title "Crescent IT Hub" -Template "STS#3"
At a later point, If you would like to connect your SharePoint Online site with a new Microsoft 365 group, you can connect SharePoint Online site with Microsoft 365 group: How to Connect Existing SharePoint Online Team Sites to New Office 365 Group?
In conclusion, creating a modern team site without a Microsoft 365 group in SharePoint Online is an efficient way to separate your team’s collaboration and communication from other groups in your organization. By utilizing PowerShell or the SharePoint Admin Center UI, administrators can easily create a modern team site without a Microsoft 365 group, allowing for a dedicated space for team collaboration, content management, and communication.
What this doesn’t tell you is that it is impossible to set a Retention Policy for Team Sites (no 365 group).
What should be the PowerShell version for Get-PnPTenantSite?
You mean, the SharePoint Online PowerShell cmdlet? Use Get-SPOSite
Hi! Great post, thank you!
Could you please explain differences between communication site and team site without MS365 group? Why do we need to use team site without MS365 group instead of simply communication site?
As per my knowledge, communication site have all the same functionality (both use SharePoint groups as well). Also we are able to rearrange navigation etc., so that it looks like team site.
Can you prevent users from creating public groups? and can only create private sites?
No! You can’t limit users to creating just Private groups. It’s all or nothing. More here:
How to Disable Office 365 Group Creation using PowerShell?
can this script (New-PnPTenantSite) add the Azure AD security group rather than a user? I want to make the SharePoint administrator group as a primary owner rather than a user. I tried using below command but it doesn’t work.
$ObjectID = “#######”
New-PnPTenantSite -Owners “c:0o.c|federateddirectoryclaimprovider|$ObjectID
No! You can’t set an AD group as a site owner, But you can add as an additional site collection admin! How to Add AD Group as a Site Collection Administrator in SharePoint Online using PowerShell?
also, where can I find the timezone numbers? Where’s timezone 4? I live in The Netherlands, what timezone would that be?
Netherlands is in GMT+1 Timezone with Timezone ID: 4. Please refer here: SharePoint Online: Change Time Zone using PowerShell
Hi @Salaudeen Rajack,
Thanks for the PS script.
I have a question, pls.
I see you are setting Timezone, which I changed to 2 as I’m in London – “$Timezone = 2”.
I also want at the same time to set the site’s Locale to 2057 (UK) as the script creates site with US locale – date format, year start etc.
So far I could not incorporate Locale to be set to “$Locale = 2057” as it brings an error:
“Error: The property ‘Locale’ cannot be found on this object. Verify that the property exists and can be set.”
Any ideas?
Thanks
Sure, Locale can be set with Parameter “-Lcid” of New-PnPTenantSite cmdlet.
Cannot access a site, after creating it. It says, I do not have permissions to access it. What’s the problem?
Is the $SiteOwner different from your ID?