Loop workspaces are unexpectedly stored in SharePoint Online sites

This article applies to customers who were notified by Microsoft that some of their new Microsoft Loop workspaces were created by using SharePoint Online sites instead of SharePoint Embedded containers as the storage locations.

If you’re a SharePoint administrator, and the loop workspaces that were created by your users are affected, you must identify the affected workspaces and inform the associated users. Then, depending on their requirements, users can choose either to continue using SharePoint Online sites as the storage option for their Loop workspaces or migrate their workspaces to use SharePoint Embedded containers.

Identify affected Loop workspaces

This procedure must be performed by a SharePoint administrator. Follow these steps:

1. Get the site URLs that correspond to the affected SharePoint site IDs that are provided by Microsoft:

   1. Copy and paste the affected SharePoint site IDs into a text editor, such as Notepad. Then, save the file.
   2. Download the SiteIDtoURL.ps1 PowerShell script.
   3. Open a PowerShell window that has administrative privileges.
   4. Navigate to the location where you saved SiteIDtoURL.ps1, and then run the script.
   5. Follow the prompts to provide the requested inputs, such as:
      • The SharePoint Online admin URL
      • The name of the file that you saved in step 1a

   After the script finishes, it returns a .csv file that contains the metadata for each SharePoint site, including the site URL.

2. Verify that the SharePoint site URLs in the .csv file are used to store Loop workspaces. Each SharePoint site must meet the following requirements:

   • The site's default Documents library contains a folder that's named LoopAppData, a subfolder that's named .appdata, and a file within the subfolder that has the .pod file name extension.
   • The site URL ends in a GUID. For example, https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/c2e21339-b2f4-41fe-921c-bbb7bbc0f14a.

3. Determine the owners of each SharePoint site:

   1. In the SharePoint admin center, select Sites > Active sites.
   2. For each affected site, select the site, select the Membership tab, and then select the Site owners section.

Keep your Loop workspace on the SharePoint site

You can continue to use the SharePoint Online site as the storage location for your Loop workspace. To access the site, use the following steps:

1. From a page in the Loop workspace, select Share > Page link to create a sharing link that's similar to the following example:

   https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/:fl:/s/6405bb1e-d41b-4df2-a433-e7e3d60d7a2a

   The last part of this URL is the site ID of the SharePoint site, such as 6405bb1e-d41b-4df2-a433-e7e3d60d7a2a.

2. Navigate to the following URL to open the SharePoint site:

   https://<yourtenantname>.sharepoint.com/sites/<siteID from step 1>

   For example, https://microsoft.sharepoint.com/sites/6405bb1e-d41b-4df2-a433-e7e3d60d7a2a.

For workspaces that are stored on a SharePoint Online site, the Recycle bin is not available in the Loop app. To access items that were deleted from these Loop workspaces, select Recycle bin in the Sharepoint site in which the workspaces are stored.

Migrate your Loop workspace to a SharePoint Embedded container

If you have to migrate an Ideas workspace together with other Loop workspaces, begin by preparing the Ideas workspace for migration, and then process the other workspaces. Follow these steps:

1. Prepare an Ideas workspace for migration. If you don’t have to migrate an Ideas workspace, go to step 2.

   1. From any page in the Ideas workspace, select Share > Page link. Copy and paste the link in a temporary location. From this link, separate the part that is https://<yourtenantname>.sharepoint.com/sites/<siteID>. This URL is the link to the Ideas workspace.
   2. Delete the existing Ideas workspace.
   3. Restart Loop to create a new Ideas workspace.
   4. A SharePoint administrator must restore the deleted Ideas workspace by restoring the SharePoint site that was deleted together with it in step 1b.
   5. After the SharePoint site is restored, navigate to the old Ideas workspace by using the URL that was determined in step 1a: https://<yourtenantname>.sharepoint.com/sites/<siteID>.
   6. Follow steps 6 to 9 to migrate all content from the old Ideas workspace to the new Ideas workspace.

2. Rename the existing Loop workspace. For example, rename the Project workspace to ProjectOLD.

3. Create a new Loop workspace by using the original name, such as Project.

4. Open the new workspace in a separate browser tab next to the existing workspace.

5. Add all members of the existing workspace to the new workspace:

   1. Under the name of the workspace, select Workspace member(s).

      

   2. In the Invite members with name or email box, enter the name or email of the members that you want to add, and then select Invite.

      

6. Copy all the content from the existing workspace to the new workspace:

   1. In the existing workspace, expand all the pages so that they're visible.
   2. In the new workspace, create the same pages.
   3. Copy the content of each page in the existing workspace to the corresponding newly created page in the new workspace.

7. For each page in the new workspace, make sure that its sharing permissions match the permissions of the corresponding page in the existing workspace. To check or change the sharing permissions for a page, select Share > Page link > Settings.

8. (Optional) Identify all the pages that are in the existing workspace that were shared to other locations. Replace the content of each page with a link to the corresponding page in the new workspace.
   
   Note: The links to shared content in the existing workspace will stop working after the existing workspace is deleted. If you want to preserve the shared links to the content, perform this step.
   
   To determine whether a page has been shared, select the Shared locations button, as shown in the following screenshot.

   

   If the page is shared, you'll see other locations listed in addition to the location of the source in the Loop workspace. For each page that's shared, such as Page A, verify that all content in Page A in ProjectOLD has been copied to Page A in Project. Then, follow these steps:

   1. In Page A in Project, select Share > Page link.
   2. In Page A in ProjectOLD, remove all content, and then paste the link that you copied in step 8a.

9. Replicate the links to content outside the Loop workspace that are in the existing workspace to the new workspace. For each link, follow these steps:

   1. Navigate to the page that has the link in the existing workspace.
   2. Copy the link:

      • If the page has a shortcut arrow in the lower right corner, select the Settings and more button (…), and then select Copy Link.

        

      • If the page has a hyperlink symbol in the lower right corner, select the Settings and more button (…), and then select Share Page Link.

        

   3. Navigate to the corresponding page in the new workspace, select the plus sign (+) that's next to the name of the workspace in the navigation menu on the left, and then select New link. In the Address field, paste the link that you copied in step 9b, and then select Add.
   4. Arrange the newly created link to match the structure of the page in the existing workspace.

After you complete the migration, wait for 90 days, and then delete the old workspace.