When I delete a Loop Workspace, what happens to original Pages linked?

Question

When I delete a Loop Workspace that is owned by various owners (older management model) what happens to the original pages that were linked to another workspace (group management model)?

For example, I have one workspace that was owned by a few owners. I have linked those pages to a newer workspace, where our office365 group owns instead, as it was created through Teams.

I want to delete the old original Workspace, but do not want to delete the pages that are linked out to the new Group Workspace. What is the experience here?

Answer 1

Dear @Brandon Dean,

Good day, and I appreciate the clear explanation of your concern.  

From my research, deleting the old tenant-owned workspace (the older management model with multiple individual owners) will delete the original pages stored in it.

Because the pages were linked to the newer Microsoft 365 group‑owned workspace (the model created through Microsoft Teams), those links act only as references rather than independent copies. As a result, once the old workspace and its underlying container are deleted, the linked pages in the new workspace will become broken or inaccessible. In practical terms, the content is lost unless it can be recovered promptly using administrative recovery tools, as there is no user‑level recycle bin for deleted workspaces.

To move away from the old workspace safely, the correct approach is to migrate the content from the old workspace into the new Microsoft 365 group‑owned workspace before deletion, rather than relying on linked references.

For additional details, I recommend reviewing the answer and reference link provided by the Q&A Assist above, as it offers helpful background information.

I hope this clarifies the situation. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to help. Wishing you a wonderful day.

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Answer 2

Deleting a Loop workspace deletes all pages and components that belong to that workspace, including any pages that were the original source for links or shortcuts used in other workspaces.

In Loop today, “linking” a page from one workspace into another does not create a second, independent copy of that page. The new workspace either:

• Holds a link/shortcut back to the original page, or
• Holds a new page where content was manually copied from the original.

Therefore, the behavior depends on how the “linked” content was created:

1. If the new, group-owned workspace only has links/shortcuts to the old pages
   • When the old (tenant-owned) workspace is deleted, its pages are deleted.
   • Any links or shortcuts in the new workspace that pointed to those original pages will stop working.
2. If the content was manually migrated (copied) into new pages in the group-owned workspace
   • The new workspace pages are independent objects in its own SharePoint Embedded container.
   • Deleting the old workspace does not delete or affect the new pages.
   • Only links that still point back to the old workspace’s pages will break.

Microsoft’s recommended migration pattern for moving from an old workspace to a new one is:

1. Create corresponding pages in the new workspace.
2. Copy all content from each page in the old workspace into the matching page in the new workspace.
3. Match sharing permissions on the new pages to the old ones.
4. For any page that was shared or referenced elsewhere, replace the content of the old page with a link to the new page, so that collaborators are redirected.
5. Replicate external links (links to content outside the workspace) in the new workspace.
6. After migration, wait a retention period (for example, 90 days) to ensure everything works as expected, then delete the old workspace.

If the new, group-owned workspace already contains full copies of all needed pages (not just shortcuts), those copied pages will remain after deleting the old workspace. Only the original pages in the deleted workspace and any links pointing to them will be removed.

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References:

• Loop workspaces are unexpectedly stored in SharePoint Online sites
• Overview of Loop workspaces and Loop components permissions
• Summary of governance, lifecycle, and compliance capabilities for Loop
• Overview of Loop storage