Effects of a term store item change

[shawn_fielding]

Hi all,

Quick question.  I don't have access to change term store terms, so I cannot test this.  If you change or delete a term store term, will that change the term everywhere it has been chosen already or delete it?  Or will the original term that was chosen stay in the column?  

[#2 · Accepted solution]

If you modify a term, it will eventually update wherever it's used. It is some sort of scheduled job, so it takes a while.

If you delete it, the terms will stay attached to items, but if you try to modify the item it will not let you save the non-existent value - you will have to select a valid term or erase the content in the field.

[#3]

@christinepayton 
Hi Christine & Shawn, 
I have a relevant question, please help me if you have the answer. 

I am trying to use the term store for the my "Project name", and some similar data. I use this metadata in most of the documents saved in my library.  The plan is to modify the term store every year , when the new project updates and delete the closed projects from the list, archive the documents in another library. 
Will the documents still keep the "Project Name" which has been removed from the term store? Will the column still show the metadata for the searchability purposes?

Thanks, 

[#4]

I would recommend depreciating the term, not deleting it. It won’t be available to be selected in the future, but can still be used where it has already been used. Check out this excellent overview of the options and implications: https://sharepointmaven.com/how-to-properly-delete-and-hide-managed-metadata-terms-in-the-term-store...

[#5]

You might consider archiving the files to the other library before deleting or deprecating the tags. The way the "move" works for files is it basically creates the files in the destination library, so it will need the tags to be usable when the files are moved. I am pretty sure the tags remain searchable after, but haven't tested it.