Move Files Between Document Libraries With Metadata And Version ...

Requirement: Move Files Between Document Libraries with Metadata and Version History.

We have a huge document library with over 100,000 documents, causing search crawl and latency issues. Therefore, I decided to archive old documents into separate document libraries, organized by year.

Before proceeding with any of the below method, Save your source list or library as a template without including content and create a new list from the list template, So that your source and destination libraries will look alike!

Solution 1 – Using the Content and Structure page to move files with versions and Metadata

All SharePoint versions, including MOSS 2007, SharePoint 2010, and SharePoint 2013, support this functionality.

• Go to Site Settings >> Click on the “Content and Structure” link under the Site Administration section.

  

• Pick the items/files to be moved. Click on Actions >> Move.
• Select the target list or library and click “OK” to complete the move operation.

This sends files with version history and metadata to the target list.

Solution 2: Move files between document libraries programmatically using PowerShell

Let’s use a PowerShell script to move files between lists. The idea is to create a sub-folder for each Month and move documents into sub-folders based on their creation date.

Copy Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue #Get the web and List $Web = Get-SPWeb "https://intranet.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing/" $SourceList = $web.Lists["Proposals"] $TargetList = $Web.Lists["Proposal Archive 2009"] #Get all Files Created in 2009 $Query = '<Where><And><Geq><FieldRef Name="Created" /><Value IncludeTimeValue="TRUE" Type="DateTime">2009-01-01T00:00:00Z</Value></Geq><Leq><FieldRef Name="Created" /><Value IncludeTimeValue="TRUE" Type="DateTime">2009-12-31T23:59:59Z</Value></Leq></And></Where>' $SPQuery = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPQuery #$SPQuery.ViewAttributes = "Scope='Recursive'" #To include Sub-folders in the library $SPQuery.Query = $Query $SourceFilesCollection =$SourceList.GetItems($SPQuery) Write-host "Total number of files found: "$SourceFilesCollection.count #Move each file to the destination folder foreach($item in $SourceFilesCollection) { #Get the Source File $file = $Web.GetFile($item.File.URL) #Get the Month value from the File created date $MonthValue = $item.File.TimeCreated.ToString('MMMM') # Try to Get the Sub-Folder in the Library! $TargetFolder = $TargetList.ParentWeb.GetFolder($TargetList.RootFolder.Url + "/" +$MonthValue); #If the folder doesn't exist, Create! if ($TargetFolder.Exists -eq $false) { $TargetFolder = $TargetList.Folders.Add([string]::Empty, [Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFileSystemObjectType]::Folder, $MonthValue) $TargetFolder.Update() } #Move the File $file.MoveTo($TargetFolder.Url + "/" + $File.name) } While the Move operation preserves Metadata and version history, Copy doesn’t! Also, the Explore View Drag & Drop from Source Library to destination also preserves versions.

Solution 3: Move files using SharePoint designer

• Open your site in SharePoint Designer
• Go to All Files >> Navigate to the source library. Select files you want to copy/move, choose cut/copy.

  

• Go to your target library, right-click and choose “Paste”.

Tips: SharePoint general rule of thumb for better performance on large list and libraries: Have < 2000 files per container (list/library/folder).

All of the above methods move documents between libraries of the same site collection! To copy files between document libraries using PowerShell, use: Copy Files Between Document Libraries in SharePoint using PowerShell

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