This week there was an issue with creating SharePoint Online sites in our tenant as reported in Office 365 Tenant Message Centre for also other customers. There is a forum thread on this issue at the new Office 365 Network and thought I quickly blog this for those who are hitting this issue.

The issue was relating to a site template error, specifically in our case, it was when we were trying to create a project and its associated SharePoint site in Project Online. The error was:

So I had a look at Site collection features and site features settings and nothing was there. Having logged a support ticket with Microsoft they acknowledged the issue and their response subsequently was that the MobileExcelWebAccess feature is deprecated.

So as a workaround to fix the issue Microsoft provided the following powershell script to run which resolves the issue. The actual script is at the end of this post. You will need to install the following prerequisites before you run the script or ask your SharePoint Administrator.

1) Install SharePoint Online Management Shell from the below download link

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588

2) Install The SharePoint Online Client Components SDK from the below download link

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=42038

Hope this helps.

-Chirag

POWERSHELL SCRIPT

$host.Runspace.ThreadOptions = “ReuseThread”

#Definition of the function that allows to enable a SPO Feature
function Enable-SPOFeature
{
param ($sSiteColUrl,$sUserName,$sPassword,$sFeatureGuid)
try
{
#Adding the Client OM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path “C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll”
Add-Type -Path “C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll”

#SPO Client Object Model Context
$spoCtx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($sSiteColUrl)
$spoCredentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($sUsername, $sPassword)
$spoCtx.Credentials = $spoCredentials

Write-Host “—————————————————————————-”  -foregroundcolor Green
Write-Host “Enabling the Feature with GUID $sFeatureGuid !!” -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host “—————————————————————————-”  -foregroundcolor Green

$guiFeatureGuid = [System.Guid] $sFeatureGuid
$spoSite=$spoCtx.Site
$spoSite.Features.Add($sFeatureGuid, $true, [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FeatureDefinitionScope]::None)
$spoCtx.ExecuteQuery()
$spoCtx.Dispose()
}
catch [System.Exception]
{
write-host -f red $_.Exception.ToString()
}
}

#Required Parameters
$sSiteColUrl = “site collection URL”
$sUserName = “user name”
$sFeatureGuid= “e995e28b-9ba8-4668-9933-cf5c146d7a9f”
$sPassword = Read-Host -Prompt “Password” -AsSecureString
$sPassword=convertto-securestring “Password” -asplaintext -force

Enable-SPOFeature -sSiteColUrl $sSiteColUrl -sUserName $sUserName -sPassword $sPassword -sFeatureGuid $sFeatureGuid

Published by Chirag Patel @techChirag

Chirag is a highly experienced Chartered IT Professional consultant and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) at Patel Consulting delivering business collaboration & productivity, data & information management solution implementation, migration and divestment projects with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Microsoft Viva, Power Platform, Security & Compliance and Microsoft 365 related technologies. Having worked with SharePoint since 2001 and Office 365 since 2012, Chirag has covered many roles, such as Delivery Lead, Technology Specialist, Solution Architect and Trainer working with clients in Energy, Financials, IT & Communications, Professional Services, Retail, Education, Public & Third sector, which has lead him to be an exceptional consultant & trainer as quoted by clients "established himself as a leader on the project, not only delivering on the separation and migration of M365 services, but also guiding and challenging colleagues to ensure the broader set of Cloud transition activities". Chirag is highly qualified with an MSc in Business Systems Analysis & Design and holds many certifications including Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator Expert and TOGAF Certified Architect. As a volunteer, Chirag enjoys running Microsoft 365 UK (M365UK) user group and is a frequent speaker at local & international events. For his technical community contributions, Chirag has been awarded as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) every year since 2020. He is also an Approved Chartered Membership Assessor for BCS (British Computer Society). According to sessionize.com, he was among the top 3% of most active speakers in 2022! View all posts by Chirag Patel @techChirag