SharePoint Online: How to Create a Classic Site Collection?

Requirement: Create a classic team site collection in SharePoint Online.

How to create a Classic Team Site in SharePoint Online?

A site collection is a top-level site in SharePoint Online that contains a hierarchy of subsites. It is a container for all the sites, lists, libraries, and other content that make up a logical group of information. You can create a site collection for a department, a project, or any other purpose that requires a separate area for storing and organizing content.

You may want to create a classic style SharePoint Online site collection, maybe because your organization hasn’t adapted to the modern experience or because you want some of the default functionality from the older UI experience. Here is how to create a classic site collection in SharePoint Online:

SharePoint Online: Create a Classic Site Collection

To create a classic site collection in SharePoint Online, do the following:

1. Go to the SharePoint admin center, Expand Sites >> Active Sites >> Click on the “Create” button in the toolbar. On the Create Site page, click on “Other options”.
2. In the Create Site page, click on the “Choose a template” drop-down and select “More Templates”.
3. This takes you to the classic site collection creation page. Go ahead and enter your site collection details, select the template as “Team site (classic experience)”, and then click on the “OK” button once done.

   

Create a Classic Team Site in SharePoint Online using PowerShell

Similarly, To create a classic site in SharePoint Online using PowerShell, Use: The New-SPOSite cmdlet with the template as “STS#0”. Here is an example of creating a classic team site:

#Connect to SharePoint Online
$Credential = Get-credential 
Connect-SPOService -url https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com -Credential $Credential

#sharepoint online create classic site powershell
New-SPOSite -Url https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing -Owner [email protected] -StorageQuota 1000 -Title "Marketing Team Site" -Template STS#0 

Wait for a minute, and this creates a new site collection in SharePoint Online.

SharePoint Online: PnP PowerShell to Create a Classic Site

Here is how to create a classic site using PnP PowerShell in SharePoint Online:

#Define Parameters
$AdminCenterURL = "https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com"
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/migration"
$SiteTitle = "Crescent Migration Hub"
$SiteOwner = "[email protected]"
$Template = "STS#0" #Classic Team Site
$Timezone = 24 #Abudhabi

Try
{
    #Connect to Tenant Admin
    Connect-PnPOnline -URL $AdminCenterURL -Interactive
    
    #Check if site exists already
    $Site = Get-PnPTenantSite | Where {$_.Url -eq $SiteURL}

    If ($Site -eq $null)
    {
        #sharepoint online pnp powershell create site collection
        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
}

In conclusion, creating a classic site collection in SharePoint Online is a straightforward process that can be done by following a few simple steps. It’s important to note that Microsoft is moving away from Classic Experience and encouraging the use of modern experience. So, it may be worth considering before creating a classic site collection. To create a modern team site in SharePoint Online, refer: SharePoint Online: How to Create a Site Collection using PowerShell?