Fix the Mess Lite. The 5-step process to go from chaos to clean in 30 days.
Your SharePoint looks like someone sneezed files into it for five years. You know it needs cleaning up but you don't know where to start — and you're terrified of deleting something important. This checklist gives you a step-by-step 30-day plan to identify owners, remove duplicates, archive old content, and apply structure. No guessing. No accidental deletions. Just a clean, working SharePoint.
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Does this sound like you?
Your SharePoint has files from 2017 that nobody has touched since
You have the same document saved in three different places with three different names
You're scared to delete anything in case someone needs it
You don't know who owns half the sites in your tenant
You've been asked to 'clean up SharePoint' and have no idea where to start
You know the mess is getting worse every week but feel paralysed
The Promise
Follow a clear 5-step process so you always know what to do next
Identify every site owner so nothing is orphaned
Find and remove duplicates without guessing which version is correct
Know exactly what to delete vs what to archive — with a risk checklist before you touch anything
Clean up permissions at the same time as content
Complete the cleanup in 30 days with a day-by-day plan
Communicate the cleanup to your team with ready-to-send email templates
What's Inside
Every site, library, and list needs a named owner. This step shows you how to find orphaned sites, assign owners, and document the Site Inventory. No owner = no accountability = more chaos.
Before you clean the old mess, stop creating new mess. The three rules to implement immediately: no new sites without a name and owner, no new libraries without columns, no new files without a home.
Five duplicate detection methods — search, sort by name, version history, modified date, and the 'Final' filename test. The decision tree: keep, merge, or delete. The Duplicate Log to track every decision.
The difference between delete and archive. What to archive (old but potentially needed), what to delete (definitely not needed), and the 3-year rule. How to create an Archive library in 5 minutes.
The three structural changes to make after cleanup: add the 3 core metadata columns, create filtered views, and fix broken permissions. This is where cleanup becomes a foundation.
Five checks to run before removing anything: Is it linked anywhere? Does anyone have it open? Is it the only copy? Is it referenced in a process? Has the owner approved the deletion?
The 6-step permissions cleanup sequence: audit current access, remove ex-staff, fix broken inheritance, remove direct permissions, document changes, and communicate. The Permissions Log tracks every change.
Week 1: Audit and identify owners. Week 2: Duplicates and archive. Week 3: Structure and permissions. Week 4: Communicate and document. Day-by-day with time estimates.
Three ready-to-send emails: IT Admin (here's what we're doing and why), Team Lead (here's what's changing for your team), and All Staff (here's what you need to know). Copy, adapt, send.
Everything Included
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Copilot Readiness Note
Copilot reads everything — including your duplicates, your ex-staff files, and your 'Final_v3_FINAL.docx' from 2019. Before you turn on Copilot, you need to clean up what's already there. The Cleanup Checklist gives you the 5-step process to remove what shouldn't be there, archive what might be needed, and apply the structure that makes Copilot useful. Clean content = good Copilot answers. Messy content = confidently wrong answers.
FAQ
SharePoint's Recycle Bin keeps deleted items for 93 days. Anything you delete can be restored within that window. The Risk Checklist in this kit also walks you through five checks to run before deleting anything — so you don't delete something important in the first place.
For most of the cleanup — removing files, archiving content, fixing library structure — you need Site Owner access. For tenant-wide audits and some permission changes, you may need SharePoint Admin access. The kit explains what access is needed for each step.
The 30-day plan is designed for someone spending 30–60 minutes per day. The total time is roughly 12–16 hours spread across 30 days. The biggest time investment is the audit in Week 1 — after that, the work gets faster.
This kit is Fix the Mess Lite — it covers the cleanup and basic structure steps. The full Fix the Mess methodology (all six stages, including information architecture, metadata design, and AI readiness) is available at fixthemess.ai.
A PDF slide deck (24 slides) plus one Excel workbook with five tabs. The workbook is your working document throughout the 30-day cleanup — fill it in as you go.
Yes. Every Teams channel has a SharePoint library behind it. The cleanup process applies to those libraries too. The kit also covers Teams-specific governance in the permissions cleanup section.
What's Next on the Path?
You've cleaned up the mess. Now check if you're actually ready for Copilot. The Copilot Readiness Quick Guide covers permissions, content quality, metadata, sensitive content, and the 'Are We Ready?' scorecard.
See Copilot Readiness Quick Guide