Turn off 'You may also be interested in' web part

[Michael Butterfield]

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!

[#2]

@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>]

[#3]

@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.

[#4]

@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.

[#5]

@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".

[#6]

@Robin Nilsson The description looks like it would be the right one but I disabled the feature and it still shows up on the page.

[#7]

@Robin Nilsson 

Thanks! This seems to have worked for me. Although I still see the web part when the page is in Edit mode, after I publish it no longer shows up.

[#8]

@Robin Nilsson 

Thanks but I don't think that Manage site features page has any effect anymore, as it's a relic of the 'classic' SharePoint. 

This annoying 'feature' is very much a modern web part thing, so it hasn't made any difference unfortunately. 

[#9]

I was kind of surprised as well that the solution for turning something off was the old site features, even though it was a modern thing, but it was a long description so I would have copy/pasted it. That's why I made a future task to check it - it was back in June sometime. I've got it marked as MC183456, so it may have come from there. Roadmap 52604.

[#10]

Hi all,

Did anyone find out how to turn off this feature?

Thanks,

Peter

[#11]

@oznetPeto  - Yes. Solution as per my closed issue on the MS Docs page here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/sharepoint-online/set-sposite?view=sharepoint-ps

To summarise:
"

Regarding the property switch to disable the page feature "You may also be interested in".

There is currently no parameter on Set-SPOSite for this. The only way to enable or disable this via powershell for multiple sites/site collections is with PNP: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/sharepoint-pnp/disable-pnpfeature?view=sharepoint...

This is controlled by the site feature called RecommendedItems

The Feature GUID is: '780AC353-EAF8-4AC2-8C47-536D93C03FD6'
"

[#12]

@Andrew Goodwin, thanks

[#13]

@Beau Cameron 

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????

[#14]

@Andrew Goodwin This is not the correct feature. I have disabled the feature on my site and the recommended items web part is still showing up on new pages in the site.

[#15]

@Michael Malloy 

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.

[#16]

It only appears when you create a new page or edit an existing one.

[#17]

@tonyknibb Exactly... That's precisely the problem!

[#18]

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...

[#19]

we going to need another option in SP Admin Settings for this, just like we have for turning comments off globally@tonyknibb 

[#20]

@Ryan Schouten  - this is the discussion I had with Microsoft https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/office-docs-powershell/issues/4065. So I'm going by what they have told me. If you have additional input then please respond to that GitHub thread.