Overview
In this blog article, I show step by step how to delete a SharePoint site (i.e., Team site, Communication site, Hub site, Classic site, and a subsite). SharePoint sites can be deleted either by site owners or administrators. If site owner is unable to delete the SharePoint site, then you should reach out to the administrator to check if there are any policies applied to restrict the deletion of sites. You can delete the site for any one of the following reasons.
- Test site created for testing some SharePoint benefits and features or to do a proof of concept and it is no longer needed
- The site is no longer being used as they moved their contents to a different SharePoint site
- For more than a year, there have been no views for the site, therefore this is done as part of the cleanup efforts
- Sites migrated from one tenant to another tenant
- There could be a variety of additional reasons as well
If you delete a SharePoint site, then all the associated contents including the subsites will be deleted. The deleted sites will be retained for 93 days and will then be permanently deleted. It is recommended to lock and make the site read-only before deleting the site. This is to ensure that in case anyone requires this site, they can reach out to the administrator to unlock the site. Refer to the following link to learn more about locking and unlocking SharePoint sites and making them read-only.
How to Delete a Communication Site in SharePoint
Perform the following steps to delete a Communication site:
- Navigate to the SharePoint Communication Site in the browser
- Click Settings icon and then click Site Information
- Click Delete site
- A pop-up message will open, select Yes and click Delete.
Important note: If you delete a Communication Site, it deletes all of its contents, including subsites.
How to Delete a Team Site in SharePoint (Microsoft 365 Group)
Perform the following steps to delete a Team Site connected to Microsoft 365 group:
- Navigate to the SharePoint Team Site in the browser
- Click Settings icon and then click Site Information
- click Delete site
- A pop-up message will open, select Yes and then click Delete
Important note: If you delete a Team Site connected to Microsoft 365 group then all the related resources including the site, files, conversations, SharePoint calendar, etc. will be deleted. Deleted Microsoft 365 groups are retained for only 30 days.
How to Delete a Hub Site in SharePoint
If you want to delete the hub site, then you need to unregister it as a hub site or else you will receive the following error.
How to Permanently Delete the Team or Communication Site
Perform the following steps to permanently delete the Team or Communication site:
- Navigate to the SharePoint Admin Center – https://<tenantname>-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/online/AdminHome.aspx
- In the left navigation, click Sites and then click Deleted sites
- Select the site that needs to be deleted, click Permanently delete
Delete a Classic Team Subsite
Perform the following steps to delete a subsite created using Team site (classic experience) template:
- Navigate to the subsite in the browser
- Click Settings icon and then click Site Settings
- Under Site Actions section, click Delete this site
- Read the warning message displayed on the page and if you wish to continue, click Delete
- A confirmation pop-up will be displayed, click Ok to delete the subsite
- Subsite has been deleted successfully
How to Restore the Deleted Classic Team Subsite
Perform the following steps to restore the deleted subsite (deleted in previous section) from SharePoint site recycle bin:
- Navigate to the SharePoint site from which subsite was deleted
- In the left navigation, click Recycle bin
- Click Second-stage recycle bin
- Select the deleted subsite and click Restore
- In the left navigation, click Site Contents and then click Subsites to view the restored subsite
How to Restore the Deleted Team or Communication Site
Deleted Sites are retained for 93 days and then they will permanently be deleted. Perform the following steps to restore the deleted Team or Communication site:
- Navigate to the SharePoint Admin Center – https://<tenantname>-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/online/AdminHome.aspx
- In the left navigation, click Sites and then click Deleted sites
- Select the site that needs to be restored, click Restore
As an End Note
As a result, in this blog, I have explained in great detail how you can delete a SharePoint site (Team site, Communication site, Hub site, Classic site, and a subsite) as well as how to restore the deleted site if needed.
To help you work seamlessly and effortlessly in your SharePoint sites, lists and libraries, be sure to check out the various SharePoint web parts, addons and Microsoft 365 apps that KWizCom offers. All KWizCom tools are no-code so they are easy to use even for SharePoint end users with no technical skills.
