Automating SharePoint Term Store Management using PnP PowerShell

Managing SharePoint Term Store efficiently is crucial for maintaining metadata consistency across sites. PnP PowerShell simplifies the automation of Term Store operations, enabling users to create, update, delete, and export terms effortlessly.

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to automate SharePoint Term Store Management using PnP PowerShell.

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Prerequisites

Before executing the script, ensure:

PnP PowerShell Installed
Install it using:

Install-Module -Name PnP.PowerShell -Force -AllowClobber

Admin Permissions in SharePoint Online

• You must be a SharePoint Term Store Administrator.

Connection to SharePoint Online

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com" -Interactive

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Step 1: Retrieve Term Store Information

To check existing Term Groups, Term Sets, and Terms, use:

# Get all Term Groups
Get-PnPTermGroup

# Get Term Sets under a specific Term Group
Get-PnPTermSet -TermGroup "Company Announcements Tags"

# Get Terms inside a Term Set
Get-PnPTerm -TermSet "Categories" -TermGroup "Company Announcements Tags"

🔹 This helps validate existing metadata structure before making changes.

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Step 2: Create a New Term Group

A Term Group organizes related Term Sets.

New-PnPTermGroup -Name "HR Taxonomy" -Description "HR-related metadata"

Creates a new Term Group named HR Taxonomy.

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Step 3: Create a Term Set

A Term Set contains structured metadata terms.

New-PnPTermSet -Name "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Lcid 1033

Creates a Job Roles Term Set inside HR Taxonomy.
LCID 1033 represents English (US).

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Step 4: Add Terms to a Term Set

Now, populate the Job Roles Term Set with terms.

New-PnPTerm -TermSet "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Name "Software Engineer" -Lcid 1033
New-PnPTerm -TermSet "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Name "Data Analyst" -Lcid 1033
New-PnPTerm -TermSet "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Name "Cybersecurity Specialist" -Lcid 1033

Adds three job roles under Job Roles Term Set.

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Step 5: Update an Existing Term

To rename or update a term:

Set-PnPTerm -Identity "Cybersecurity Specialist" -TermSet "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -NewName "SOC Analyst"

Renames Cybersecurity Specialist to SOC Analyst.

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Step 6: Delete a Term, Term Set, or Term Group

To delete a Term:

Remove-PnPTerm -Identity "Data Analyst" -TermSet "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Confirm:$false

To delete an entire Term Set:

Remove-PnPTermSet -Identity "Job Roles" -TermGroup "HR Taxonomy" -Confirm:$false

To delete a Term Group:

Remove-PnPTermGroup -Identity "HR Taxonomy" -Confirm:$false

Warning: Deleting a Term Group removes all associated Term Sets and Terms.

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Step 7: Export Term Store to CSV

To export all terms for backup:

$terms = Get-PnPTermGroup | ForEach-Object {
    Get-PnPTermSet -TermGroup $_.Name | ForEach-Object {
        Get-PnPTerm -TermSet $_.Name -TermGroup $_.Group
    }
}

$terms | Select Group, TermSet, Name | Export-Csv -Path "C:\SharePoint_Terms.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Creates a CSV backup of all Term Groups, Term Sets, and Terms.

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Step 8: Import Terms from CSV (Bulk Creation)

Prepare a CSV file with the format:

TermGroup	TermSet	TermName
HR Taxonomy	Job Roles	Frontend Developer
HR Taxonomy	Job Roles	Backend Developer
HR Taxonomy	Job Roles	Cloud Engineer

Run the following script to import terms from CSV:

$csvData = Import-Csv -Path "C:\SharePoint_Terms.csv"

foreach ($row in $csvData) {
    New-PnPTerm -TermSet $row.TermSet -TermGroup $row.TermGroup -Name $row.TermName -Lcid 1033
}

Creates multiple terms in bulk from the CSV file.

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Step 9: Schedule the Script for Automation

1️⃣ Open Task Scheduler
2️⃣ Click Create Basic Task
3️⃣ Set Trigger: Daily/Weekly
4️⃣ Set Action: Start a Program
5️⃣ In Program/script, enter:

-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\YourScriptPath\ManageTermStore.ps1"

6️⃣ Click Finish

Now, Term Store operations run automatically on schedule.

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue 1: PnP PowerShell Not Recognized

Run:

Update-Module -Name PnP.PowerShell

Issue 2: Connection Errors

Ensure you are connecting with Admin Privileges:

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com" -Interactive

Issue 3: Terms Not Updating

• Verify that the Term Group and Term Set names match.
• Check if the Term Set is not locked in SharePoint.