Edit

Share via

Use PowerShell Scripts for Restricted SharePoint Search

  • Article

Important

Restricted SharePoint Search is designed for customers of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Visit here and the overview of Restricted SharePoint Search for more information.

By default, Restricted SharePoint Search isn't enabled. To enable and set up Restricted SharePoint Search, you need to have a SharePoint Administrator or above role in Microsoft 365. Depending on the scenario, some actions you need to take are:

  • Get the current mode that is set for Restricted Search

  • Enable and disable restricted SharePoint search

  • Add sites to the allowed list by providing URL

  • Remove sites from the allowed list by providing URL

  • Get the existing list of URLs that are added in allow list

 This article covers how to use admin scripts in PowerShell for these actions.

Before you start

You must be a SharePoint Administrator or above in Microsoft 365 to run the following admin scripts. Before you use the PowerShell scripts in this article, you need to do the following:

  1. If you haven’t, download the latest SharePoint Online Management Shell.

    Note

    If you installed a previous version of the SharePoint Online Management Shell, go to Add or remove programs and uninstall "SharePoint Online Management Shell."

  2. Connect to SharePoint as a SharePoint Administrator or above in Microsoft 365 in Microsoft 365. To learn how, see Getting started with SharePoint Online Management Shell.

Restricted SharePoint Search is disabled by default. To verify this feature’s current mode, you can run the following script:

Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode

Module: Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Applies to: SharePoint Online

Syntax

Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode

Example

Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode

This example lets the admin get the existing allowed list in the tenant. Result can be ‘Enabled’ or ‘Disabled’ based on the current setting.

Enable or disable the Restricted Search setting

Enable or disabled the Restricted Search setting with the default being disabled. The first time when the setting is enabled the allow list is empty. To enable or disable the Restricted SharePoint Search, you can run:

Set-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode

Module: Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Applies to: SharePoint Online

Syntax

Set-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode 
[-Mode] {Disabled | Enabled}
 [<CommonParameters>]

Example 1

Set-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode -Mode Enabled  

Example 1 sets or enables the Restricted Tenant Search mode for the tenant.

Example 2

Set-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchMode – Mode Disabled  

Example 2 disables the Restricted Tenant Search mode for the tenant.

Parameters

-Mode

Sets the mode for the Restricted Tenant Search.

Type   String  
Position:  0 
Default Value:  Disabled 
Required:  True 
Accept Pipeline input:  False 
Accept wildcard characters:  False 

Add sites to the allowed list

When Restricted SharePoint Search is enabled, you can add site URLs to the allowed list in string or csv file:

Add-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList

Module: Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Applies to: SharePoint Online

Syntax

Add-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesList <List[string]> [<CommonParameters>]

Add-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesListFileUrl <string> [-ContainsHeader <bool>]  
 [<CommonParameters>]

Example 1

Add-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesList @(“[https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing](https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing)”, “[https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Benefits](https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Benefits)”)

This example lets the admin add the sites to the allowed list.

Example 2

Add-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList  -SitesListFileUrl C:\Users\admin\Downloads\UrlList.csv

  This example lets the admin add the sites to the allowed list by giving a CSV file. Add the list of site URLs in URL column.

Parameters

-SitesList

Site list for allowed list.

Type  String 
Position:  0 
Default Value:  None 
Required:  True 
Accept Pipeline input:  False 
Accept wildcard characters:  False 

-SitesListFileURL

File that has list of sites URLs that can be added to an allowed list when the tenant is set to Restricted Tenant Search Mode.

Type  String 
Position:  0 
Default Value:  None 
Required:  True 
Accept Pipeline input:  False 
Accept wildcard characters:  False 

Remove sites from the allow list

You can remove sites from the allowed list by providing the Site URL in string or csv file using PowerShell script:

Remove-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList

Module: Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Applies to: SharePoint Online

Syntax

Remove-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesList <List[string]> [<CommonParameters>]

Remove-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesListFileUrl <string> [-ContainsHeader <bool>]
 [<CommonParameters>]

Example 1

Remove-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesList @(“[https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing](https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing)”, “[https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/HR](https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/HR)”)

Example 1 lets the admin remove the sites to the allowed list.

Example 2

Remove-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList -SitesListFileUrl C:\Users\admin\Downloads\UrlList.csv

Example 2 lets the admin add the sites to the allowed list by giving a CSV file.

Parameters

-SitesList

Site list that will be removed from allowed list.

Type  String 
Position:  0 
Default Value:  None 
Required:  True 
Accept Pipeline input:  False 
Accept wildcard characters:  False 

-SitesListFileURL

File that has list of sites that can be removed from an allowed list when the tenant is set to Restricted Tenant Search Mode.

Type   String  
Position:  0 
Default Value:  None 
Required:  True 
Accept Pipeline input:  False 
Accept wildcard characters:  False 

Get the existing list of URLs in the allowed list

You can get the existing list of URLs in the allowed list by running the following PowerShell script:

Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList

Module: Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

Applies to: SharePoint Online

Syntax

Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList
```  

**Example**

```powershell
Get-SPOTenantRestrictedSearchAllowedList

This example lets the admin get the existing allowed list in the tenant.