PnP PowerShell: How to remove Term Set?

In one of our previous blog posts, we learned how to create a term set using PnP PowerShell, and in this post, we’ll learn how to remove the term set. If you haven’t already, go to https://www.hemantkabra.in/microsoft-sharepoint/pnp-powershell-how-to-create-term-set-in-sharepoint-online/ for more information on term sets in SharePoint Online.

The Remove-PnPTaxonomyItem cmdlet in PnP PowerShell makes it very simple to remove the term set. See examples below to remove the global and local term sets.

Example 1: Remove the Global Term Set

# SharePoint Admin Center URL
$SPAdminCenterURL = "https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com"

# Connect to the SharePoint Admin Center using Connect-PnPOnline cmdlet
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SPAdminCenterURL -Interactive

# Name of the Term Group
$TermGroupName = "Departments"

# Term Set Name
$TermSetName = "Technology"

# Term Set Path
$TermSetPath = "$($TermGroupName)|$($TermSetName)"

# Remove the Term Set
Remove-PnPTaxonomyItem -TermPath $TermSetPath -Force

This removes the Technology term set from the Departments term group available at tenant level.

Example 2: Remove the Local Term Set

# Site Collection URL
$SiteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/departments"

# Connect to the SharePoint Site Collection using Connect-PnPOnline cmdlet
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteUrl -Interactive

# Get Site Context
$Context = Get-PnPContext

# Get taxonomy session
$TaxSession = Get-PnPTaxonomySession

# Get default site collection term store
$TermStore = $TaxSession.GetDefaultSiteCollectionTermStore()

# Get the site collection group
$TermGroup = $TermStore.GetSiteCollectionGroup($Context.Site, $true)
$Context.Load($TermGroup)
$Context.ExecuteQuery()

# Term Set Name
$TermSetName = "Topics"

# Term Set Path
$TermSetPath = "$($TermGroup.Name)|$($TermSetName)"

# Remove the Term Set
Remove-PnPTaxonomyItem -TermPath $TermSetPath -Force

This removes the Topics termset from the default site collection term group.

Few points to consider from the two examples mentioned above:

• Use of -Force parameter will skip the confirmation before removing the term set. So, do not use this if you wanted the confirmation question before deletion.
• Remove-PnPTaxonomyItem cmdlet can be used to remove term as well. You just need to pass the term path in the parameter. See below mentioned Example 3.

Example 3: Remove the Term

# SharePoint Admin Center URL
$SPAdminCenterURL = "https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com"

# Connect to the SharePoint Admin Center using Connect-PnPOnline cmdlet
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SPAdminCenterURL -Interactive

# Name of the Term Group
$TermGroupName = "Departments"

# Term Set Name
$TermSetName = "Technology"

# Term Name
$Term = "Microsoft 365"

# Term Set Path
$TermSetPath = "$($TermGroupName)|$($TermSetName)|$($Term)"

# Remove the Term Set
Remove-PnPTaxonomyItem -TermPath $TermSetPath -Force

This code removes the term called “Microsoft 365” available in “Technology” term set in “Departments” term group at tenant level.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Please feel free to leave a comment in case you have any feedback, suggestions, or queries.