How to disable SharePoint Spaces creation by default

By João Ferreira Feb 3, 2021 SharePoint, Spaces 0 Comments

SharePoint Spaces is available for some time in preview and soon will become available globally in the tenant to all users with permissions to create content.

The option will become available in the +New menu by default but can be disabled globally or per site collection by an admin using SharePoint Online Management Shell.

Before executing the PowerShell script you need to make sure you have the module updated at least to the version 16.0.20912.12000 as the cmdlet you are about to use was only introduced in this version.

You can update the SharePoint Online Management Shell to the latest version by executing the following cmdlet in PowerShell as an admin.

Update-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

If you don’t want the Space menu item to show in the +New menu across your tenant by default, you’ll need to enable the tenant-level control by executing the following PowerShell script.

Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
Set-SPODisableSpacesActivation -scope tenant -Disable $true

This action can be later reverted get the Space option available in the +New menu by executing the following script.

Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
Set-SPODisableSpacesActivation -scope tenant -Disable $false

In addition to the tenant level control, you can also use PowerShell to enable or disable the spaces entry in the +New menu for individual sites collections by executing the following script

Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
$siteCollectionURL = https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/hr
Set-SPODisableSpacesActivation -scope site -Disable $true -Identity $siteCollectionURL

Like the tenant level control you can also make the Spaces option available again in the site collection by executing the following script.

Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
$siteCollectionURL = https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/hr
Set-SPODisableSpacesActivation -scope site -Disable $false -Identity $siteCollectionURL