How to delete a SharePoint site
A SharePoint Administrator deletes a site in the SharePoint admin center: open Active sites, select the site, choose Delete, and confirm. The site moves to the Deleted sites list and is kept for 93 days, so it can be restored. After 93 days it is permanently deleted, along with its content and settings.
Deleting a site removes everything inside it: document libraries and files, lists and list data, site settings and history, and any subsites with their contents. This page covers the steps, the differences by site type, how to restore or permanently delete a site, and what deletion does to your storage figure.
Before you delete
- Who can do it. A SharePoint Administrator, or an administrator role above it, in Microsoft 365.
- Tell the owners. Notify the site admins and any subsite owners first, so they can move what they need and so users know when the site goes.
- Keep a copy if you must. If content has to be retained for a minimum period, a retention policy keeps a copy in the Preservation Hold Library.
- Leave the root site alone. Microsoft recommends against deleting your organization's root site, because every SharePoint site is inaccessible until you restore it or create a new root site. Replace the root site with a different site instead.
Delete a site in the admin center
- Go to Active sites in the SharePoint admin center and sign in with an account that has admin permissions.
- In the left column, select the site.
- Select Delete, and select Delete again to confirm.
The site now appears under Deleted sites in the SharePoint admin center.
Delete a site with PowerShell
Connect to SharePoint Online as a Global Administrator or SharePoint Administrator, then run:
Remove-SPOSite -Identity https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/sitetoremove
The site goes to the Deleted sites list, the same as deleting it in the admin center.
What to expect by site type
| Site type | How to delete | How to permanently delete |
|---|---|---|
| Communication site | Active sites page or PowerShell | Deleted sites page or PowerShell |
| Microsoft 365 group-connected team site | Delete the group and all its resources from the Microsoft 365 admin center, the Active sites page or PowerShell | PowerShell only |
| Hub site | Unregister it as a hub site first, then delete it according to its site type | According to its site type |
| Classic site | Active sites page or PowerShell | Deleted sites page or PowerShell |
| Root site | Replace it with another site, then delete the old one from Active sites or PowerShell | Deleted sites page or PowerShell |
Group-connected and Teams-connected sites
Deleting a site that belongs to a Microsoft 365 group deletes the group and all its resources, including the Outlook mailbox and calendar and any Teams channels. The site itself is kept for 93 days, but the other group resources are kept for only 30 days. If the group's other resources have already gone, Remove-SPODeletedSite permanently deletes the site.
Hub sites
To delete a hub site, unregister it as a hub site first. Sites that are associated with a hub can be deleted like any other site. SharePoint hub sites explains how hubs, association and navigation work.
Restore a deleted site
Within 93 days, open Deleted sites in the SharePoint admin center, select the site and choose Restore. The Restore button appears only when one site is selected. Restoring a site that belongs to a Microsoft 365 group restores the group and all its resources.
Permanently delete a site
Permanent deletion frees the site's URL for reuse. After a site is permanently deleted, the URL can take up to 24 hours to become available.
- Admin center: on the Deleted sites page, select the site, choose Delete, and confirm. This works for every site except those that belong to Microsoft 365 groups.
- PowerShell: this works for every site, including group-connected team sites:
Remove-SPODeletedSite -Identity https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/sitetoremove
If you cannot permanently delete a site from the Deleted sites page, check whether it is group-connected and use PowerShell.
What deleting a site does to your storage
Microsoft states that deleted sites in the Recycle Bin do not count toward the organization's total storage usage, and that the usage figure can take up to 48 hours to update. For a tenant close to its quota, deleting finished sites is one of the fastest ways to bring the figure down.
Deleting individual files works differently: deleted files sit in the two-stage recycle bin for 93 days and keep counting. How the SharePoint recycle bin works covers that, and what to expect after you free space shows what each action does to the figure. To find which sites are worth deleting, the free SharePoint Storage Explorer reports storage by site, library and file.
Delete the site, or archive what is in it
Deletion removes the content. If a site holds files you may need again, there are two other routes:
- Archive the whole site. Microsoft 365 Archive moves a site to a cold tier and can reactivate it later.
- Archive the inactive files and keep the site. Squirrel moves inactive files from document libraries into Azure Blob Storage in your own subscription and leaves a stub with the original name, so the site stays live and a user restores a file in one click.
SharePoint archiving compares every option for files, sites and libraries.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a deleted SharePoint site kept?
93 days. After that the site and all its content and settings are permanently deleted.
Who can delete a SharePoint site?
A SharePoint Administrator, or a Microsoft 365 administrator role above it.
Does deleting a site free up SharePoint storage?
Yes. Microsoft states that deleted sites in the Recycle Bin do not count toward the organization's total storage usage. The figure can take up to 48 hours to update.
Why can't I permanently delete a site from the Deleted sites page?
Sites that belong to Microsoft 365 groups cannot be permanently deleted from that page. Use Remove-SPODeletedSite in PowerShell.
How soon can I reuse the URL of a deleted site?
Permanently delete the site first. After that, the URL can take up to 24 hours to become available.
What happens to the Microsoft 365 group when I delete a team site?
The group and its resources are deleted too, including the Outlook mailbox and calendar and any Teams channels. The group's other resources are kept for 30 days and the site for 93.
Can I delete the root site?
Microsoft recommends against it, because all your SharePoint sites are inaccessible until you restore it or create a new root site. Replace the root site instead.
Related reading
- The SharePoint recycle bin - the two stages, the 93-day window and what counts toward storage.
- SharePoint sites read-only because storage is full - what each action does to the storage figure.
- How to reduce SharePoint storage - the tactics ranked by what they reclaim.
- How to archive a SharePoint site - Microsoft 365 Archive steps, pricing and limits.
- Restore an archived SharePoint site - reactivating a site archived by Microsoft.
- SharePoint Storage Explorer - free tool that reports storage by site, library and file.
Mark Smith co-founded SmiKar Software in 2015 and has spent the past decade helping organisations solve Microsoft 365 data management challenges. He works with the SmiKar team to build solutions for SharePoint archiving, storage optimisation, governance and compliance, supporting customers from growing businesses through to Fortune 500 enterprises.
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