Forum Discussion
Turn off 'You may also be interested in' web part
Is there an option to permanently turn off this annoying feature that automatically adds this useless web part to new pages?
It's so pointless, and populating a page with a web part without wanting it is so obnoxious from MS!
22 Replies
Michael Butterfield I think this is what you're looking for:
1. Go to site settings
2. Manage site features
3. Find "SharePoint Recommendations"
4. Select Deactivate.
I hope that helps.
Wagner Cox Read the whole thread - that was already mentioned but didn't work as expected. Not to mention it's beyond ridiculous to have some settings on the classic settings page, some in modern and others only available via powershell. As others have mentioned the chaotic feature release schedule is totally mismanaged by Msft. Even seasoned SP users are struggling to interpret what Msft is doing. This isn't rocket science - come up with release standards and stick to them. Plenty of other more competent companies are doing this so just copy them, if you can't figure it out for yourselves.
mattchowell- " the chaotic feature release schedule is totally mismanaged by Msft. Even seasoned SP users are struggling to interpret what Msft is doing."
Well put. MS have always struggled with usability and consistency, partly compounded by multiple teams working on different areas of the same product and not apparently talking to each other.
The horrible mix of classic and modern is causing everyone headaches. MS, please just kill classic ASAP.
- It only appears when you create a new page or edit an existing one.
tonyknibb Exactly... That's precisely the problem!
- Really it should be set to default off, with the option to switch it on. This is just the kind of bad UX decision I'm railing against right now...
Michael Butterfield I'm guessing this may be an experimental feature ... maybe AB testing... I can't find it in any of my tenants. Very interesting though... i'd love to find out more.
The think that I don't understand is this...The road map says that it's for targeted release and more specifically...for specific Targeted Release people. Well we only have 5 targeted release peeps in my tenant of which I am 1. However, yesterday, one of my site owners comes to me and asks about this new web part (she is NOT targeted). I had no idea and as a matter of fact, it doesn't even show up for me when I create a new page of visit a page on which this new web part exists....what the what????
From what I can tell, the Recommendations 'web part' appears on a page the next time you go into Edit mode, so if you're just looking at things read mode you won't see it. It also looks like it doesn't show up on site collection home pages.
I'm also pretty surprised that this has shown up for our standard release users too as I didn't see it in Target release. I have a vague recollection of it being mentioned but I can't actually find MC183456 in my Message centre, including dismissed messages. Based on the numbering, that message should have been published early August 2019.
I too am surprised at the way it is working. I had thought this would be a web part we would choose to add to the page much like any of the other 'personalisation' web parts.
I need to consult with my business owner and other stakeholders on whether we use this. My initial instinct is to ask my SharePoint Admin to implement the PnP PowerShell solution to switch it off.
I remain completely confused about the approach to feature releases. We get things like this that we should have the opportunity to decide whether they are a fit for our users before they go into production, but wait months for things we really need.
Beau Cameron it showed up in my tenant today. You can turn it off on a page by page basis but I would love to be able to turn it off by site collection.
Ryan Schouten I think you can do it in the site features - it hasn't shown up for my tenant yet but I have a task for testing this feature.
To disable SharePoint Recommendations on a site, you can do so through the SharePoint Features page:
Click on the Settings Cog Wheel -> Site information -> View all site settings -> Manage site features.
Go to SharePoint Recommendations and select "Deactivate".
Michael Butterfield I've just added a request here for this: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/sharepoint-online/set-sposite?view=sharepoint-ps since this is in the same category as the following:
Set-SPOSite [-CommentsOnSitePagesDisabled <Boolean>] [-SocialBarOnSitePagesDisabled <Boolean>]
