How to manage duplication in SharePoint Teamsites for Teams and Outlook Groups?

Riette Fourie 5 Reputation points
2023-01-23T06:05:28.9866667+00:00

When creating an Outlook Contact Group, a SharePoint Teamsite will by default be created for that Contact Group. When creating a MSTeams team from that Contact Group, another (different) SharePoint Teamsite is created for that team. Now the same working group has two SharePoint Teamsites.

Also, when an unused MSTeams team is deleted, the SharePoint Teamsite associated with that team, cannot be deleted, even if I was the owner of the team. To me, this means that there are potentially thousands of unused SharePoint Teamsites (created either from MSOutlook or MSTeams) floating around our organisation, and many duplications. I am not a SharePoint or Azure Admin, or even IT person. I am simply responsible to keep our knowledge management environment neat & tidy and to capacitate others to do so as well.

Can someone please clear up my confusion and explain how to avoid duplication in SharePoint Teamsite environment when creating a team in MSTeams or a Contact Group in MSOutlook?

Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams
A Microsoft customizable chat-based workspace.
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SharePoint
SharePoint
A group of Microsoft Products and technologies used for sharing and managing content, knowledge, and applications.
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Outlook Management
Outlook Management
Outlook: A family of Microsoft email and calendar products.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Xyza Xue_MSFT 28,051 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2023-01-23T07:14:05.3933333+00:00

    Hi @Riette Fourie ,

    When you create MSTeams or Contact Group in MSOutlook, an associated SharePoint Team site will be created automatically that serves as a document library for that team.This is by design and unavoidable.

    Here is a thread similar to your requirement, please check it out: TEAMs Team - without Sharepoint Teamsite?
    Either way, we won't be able to disconnect the group and the SharePoint team site. The group must be deleted before the site is deleted, if you try to delete the group, the team site will also be deleted, this may take a while.

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