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Deleting Site Collections in Office 365

By default deleting a site collection in Office 365 just moves the site collection to the recycle bin for 30 days, but there is not an option in the admin screen to remove it from the recycle bin.

This is fine, unless you want to use the same url for a new site collection. In this instance you will need to use PowerShell to remove the site collection from the recycle bin. To do this you will need to install the following.

PowerShell v3.0
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34595

Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant for IT Professionals RTW
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588 or http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39267

SharePoint Online Management Shell
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588

Once this is done open up the online management shell and enter the following.
Connect-SPOService “[Full Admin URL]” -credential “Online User Id”
Remove-SPODeletedSite “[Full URL]”

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Richard Hogan - Global Chief Architect, Microsoft Practice

Richard Hogan

Global Chief Architect, Microsoft Practice | IBM

Global Chief Architect, Microsoft Practice at IBM. 20+ years experience working at the intersection of cloud architecture, security, and emerging AI capabilities across Azure and the wider Microsoft ecosystem. Host of the Cloudy with a Chance of Insights podcast. Regular speaker at tech conferences and active contributor to the Microsoft Tech Community.

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