"You are not allowed to create team sites" error message when you click "new site" on the SharePoint Online "Followed Sites" page

Problem

When you click new site on the Followed Sites page in Microsoft SharePoint Online, you receive the following error message:

You are not allowed to create team sites at https://yourdomain.sharepoint.com/.

Note

The yourdomain placeholder represents the domain that you use for your organization.

Solution

To fix this issue, an administrator must provide Create Subsites permissions to the users who need permission to use the "new site" link.

Note

If you use this solution, all users who are added to the new group that you create will be able to create subsites within the site collection. There are many methods that provide this level of access. However, this solution lets you (the administrator) easily manage the number and range of people who can also create subsites. You manage this variable by adding or removing users from the new group.

To determine the location at which a site is created after a user clicks the new site link, follow these steps:

  1. Log on to the SharePoint admin center, and then click settings.

  2. In the Start a Site option, review the URL that's listed in the Create sites under field. For example, the value may be https://contoso.sharepoint.com, where contoso is the domain name that you use for your organization.

To create a new permission level, you must be an administrator of the site that's been specified to have sites created under it. In this situation, follow these steps:

  1. Click the gear icon for the Tools menu, and then click Site settings.

  2. Click Site Permissions.

  3. On the ribbon, click Permission Levels, and then click Add a Permission Level.

  4. Enter a name for the permission level, and then in the Site Permissions section, select the Create Subsites check box.

  5. Click Create.

To create a group that uses the new permission level, follow these steps as an administrator of the site:

  1. Click the gear icon for the Tools menu, and then click Site settings.

  2. Click Site Permissions, and then click Create Group.

  3. Provide a name for the group, and then in the Give Group Permission to this Site section, select the check box next to the name of the new permission level that you created.

    Note

    There are also other settings available in this section. Select any additional settings as appropriate for your particular scenario.

  4. Click Create.

Add and remove users from the new group in order to grant or deny the permissions that you've configured.

More information

This issue occurs because the user who is trying to create the site doesn't have Create Subsites permissions for the site collection where the user is trying to create the site.

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