Removing a Site Column - Error

Question

Sticky problem here. All I've seen with Powershell is 2010 code, but I'm on the 365/Online version of Sharepoint.

I need to delete two site columns. I've removed them from everything I could imagine. Emptied both Recycling bins.

Still, all I get is this error:

Site columns which are included in content types cannot be deleted. Remove >all references to this site column prior to deleting it.

Thoughts? I either need to know where it is still sitting, or another way to remove.

Thanks,

Joe

Answer 1

Could you test with Powershell, e.g. https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Get-Content-Types-with-a-e67b46e6 ?

Do you have subsites/lists where the columns could have been added? I don't think the script above is recursive so you would need to adapt it, along the lines:

$Lists=$ctx.Web.Lists
$ctx.Load($Lists)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()
foreach($ll in $Lists){
foreach($cc in $ll.ContentTypes)
{

 $column=$cc.Fields.GetByInternalNameOrTitle($NameOrTitle.Trim())
 $ctx.Load($column)  
   $ErrorActionPreference= 'silentlycontinue'
   try
   { 
     $ctx.ExecuteQuery() 
     }
     catch [Net.WebException]
     {
     }

    if($column.Title -eq $NameOrTitle.Trim())
    {
      Write-Host $cc.Name
    }
 }
}