Update the request access email in multiple SharePoint Online sites
Background
Recently I had a request to update 50 plus SharePoint Online sites with a group email address so that this mailbox received all site access requests. This group was being used as the owners of the SharePoint sites and as it was a group they had not been receiving the access requests. As a result we decided we wanted to forward these requests to the group mailbox. Using the resources from Microsoft Docs I was able to set the request access email in a SharePoint site, using PowerShell.
Using the guidance command provided in Microsoft Docs I was able to create a PowerShell script and added a step to repeat this on multiple sites by importing a spreadsheet (CSV) with the site addresses.
If had done this manually it would have taken around a day to go to each site and set. Using the script in a matter of minutes the job was done and I was able to focus on other tasks. I did a few random spot checks to ensure it worked.
What you need to get started
- Ensure you have installed the relevant PowerShell modules are required to run the script
- SharePoint Admin rights to successfully run the commands
- Review the Microsoft Docs guidance: Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails
Steps to replicate
These are the steps to create and run the script to update all SharePoint sites access requests:
- Create a .csv file
- Identify your mail address
- Update and run the PowerShell script
Create a .csv file
If like me you have a number of site you want to set the access requests, then create a .csv file in Excel.
- In Cell A1 add the title SiteCollection.
- Add the Urls for each site underneath (see example below).
- Save the Excel file as .csv
Identify your mail address
Identify the mail address the access requests are going to be directed, if a user clicks to request access to the SharePoint site.
I had been requested to do this for a group mailbox address rather than an individual. This worked successfully but if you wanted this could also be a specific persons email address to receive the access request.
Best practice suggestion would be to use a group mailbox to solve any issues of absence or the person leaving the business.
Update and run the script
Below is an example of the script I used to achieve the updating of the request access email in multiple SharePoint Online sites.
# Variable: Amend these variables to suit
$adminSiteUrl = "https://COMPANY-admin.sharepoint.com"
$AccessReqEmail ="JOHN.SMITH@company.com"
$csvFile ="C:\FILE LOCATION\sites.csv"
# Connect to SPO admin Centre
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $adminSiteUrl
# Import sites from .csv
$table = Import-Csv $csvFile -Delimiter ","
# Using csv the script runs through each row to connect to each Site
foreach ($row in $table) {
Write-Host $row.SiteCollection
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $row.SiteCollection -UseWebLogin
# Sets the Access Request Email using the variable
Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails -Emails $AccessReqEmail
}
# Lets you know script has completed
Write-Host "Access Request updated" -ForegroundColor Green
Update the variables shown in the above script (see red text) then run using PowerShell. The script will :
- Connect to the tenant,
- Import the spreadsheet
- Lookup the SiteCollection column to find the site address (Url)
- Then run the Set-PnPRequestAccessEmails command on all sites listed.
Depending on the number of sites it may take a few minutes for the script to complete. I did a few spot checks on each site to confirm even though I had no errors.
Conclusion
This script probably saved me close to a days manual work and allowed me to focus on other more important tasks. I hope that it helps save you some time too.
