A simple move/copy function between SharePoint Online Document libraries/folders/files
SharePoint Online Document Libraries are missing possibly the two most basic and fundamental functions in the online portal:
- A move/cut function, which is missing altogether, both for folders and files
- A copy function, which although technically exists, is really over complicated for a function which has existed in a much simpler form in every document repository technology since the mid-1980s...
Currently, in order to move a file or folder from within the online portal between different libraries or even different folders within the same library...well the function just doesn't exist. So users need to either sync the site just to simply MOVE something or they need to Open in Explorer (and we all know how badly and slowly that works).
Secondly, in order to copy a file from within the online portal between different libraries or even different folders within the same library, I need to copy the URL of the target folder preemptively, then paste in the copy dialog box...should this be the procedure for simply copy/pasting something? Oh and that function's missing for folders...
So again users need to sync a site library or Open with Explorer just to simply copy paste something easily.
How does a document library product make it into production for years on end without having proper move/copy functionality? How does it even make it out of approval?
Rick McKeon
shared this idea
AdminSharePoint UserVoice Admin
(SharePoint UserVoice Admin, Microsoft SharePoint)
responded
Copy/Move within library, between libraries and across sites is now possible.
https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/move-or-copy-files-in-sharepoint-00e2f483-4df3-46be-a861-1f5f0c1a87bc?ui=en-US&rs=en-IE&ad=IE
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90 comments
Comments are closed-
Ruud
commented
Can you guys give a status update on this one?
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Andrew Dickson
commented
"How does a document library product make it into production for years on end without having proper move/copy functionality? How does it even make it out of approval?"
Because the approval workflow also doesn't work.
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Philip Worrell
commented
Seeing a problem with libraries that are created from a template not showing up when browsing in new experience they do not show up. Sites come up with no libraries or just standard libraries
I checked the libraries not showing are using a different entity id and ID of 8000 instead of 101
Does the same in the mobile apps.
We cannot deploy mobile apps until this is fixed since the majority of our content does not show up. -
E Mayfield
commented
Yet another gotcha, while one can drag and drop a file into a folder in a library and maintain the metadata, you can't move it back up the folder structure in the same library, much less a different library. SharePoint Experiences Team, you really have to work faster.
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Marc Nemegeer
commented
And another gotcha, my managed metadata column values are not copied to the destination document when copying office documents such as a word document.
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Marc Nemegeer
commented
Oops when using the copy, both documents have the same document ID. Is this by design ? A move should have the same document ID, a copy should have a new one. At least, that is my opinion ;-)
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tracy learning
commented
Is PowerShell able to implement this?
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Rob Nicholson commented
Ohh now I'm very confused. I tried "Copy to" in our main IT support document library and was unable to select a different site and got that white box. I wondered if the problem with the white box was a theme issue, i.e. white text on a white background. So I went into another site/document library and changes the theme/look and to my surprise, in that document library when you select "Copy to", you get a "Places" button and a sort-of list of other sites in the tree.
Except it's an *awful* interface. It shows some random list of sites and "Browse sites" which one would expect to bring up a classic tree structure doesn't - just some more random sites.
I really do despair with the SharePoint team sometimes :-(
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Even Microsoft itself doesn't know whether it's coming or going on this. This page about the new OneDrive client clearly states:
>Version history is lost when moving Office files locally across sites. To move Office files to another site, go to Office 365 and use "Copy to" to copy your files to another site.
Ohh yes, how??? There is a tantalising "Copying to other places?" on the new document library page but when I click it, it's a white box.
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Karl Alexander Øgaard commented
The ability to move a document between libraries is still not possible. When will this be ready?
We have two document libraries in a site collection and cannot easily move documents between them. This hurts user adoption.
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Erika
commented
had another thought... continuing on from the last post.... I want to expand my comment about the option to "link" to be.... make the option to "link" or "unlink" to the source library an option available in the same pop-up window as the "browse by site/folder" option;
also... make this available in SharePoint Online
Cheers :)
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Erika
commented
my thoughts as an Admin of our SharePoint sites, what would be good for our users would be the move/copy options to be able to: be available for publishing sites; appear on the right click menu; allow the user to browse by site and then show the available document libraries (as they won't think to get the destination library prior to starting the process); make the option to "link" to the source library an option available in the same pop-up window as the "browse by site/folder" option; get rid of the pop-up that shows "Status - waiting for user confirmation" as it's useless; allow for the metadata of the destination library to display so it can be completed as part of the move/copy process; allow for automatic check in of the document.
And... is there any update as to when your "working on capabilities for moving files.." will happen?
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Anonymous
commented
Has this been rectified? I really need to be able to move from folders from one document library to another and syncing isn't an option.
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Anonymous
commented
When can this be addressed?
My users and I cannot understand why such a basic function is missing, to copy or move documents between libraries even within the same team site, and it is significantly affecting user adoption of SharePoint at my company
"COPY TO" and "MOVE TO" currently exists for destinations in the same library, but thats all. Need to extend this functionality to allow copying and moving to other libraries, other sharepoint sites, and also to your own OneDrive folders.
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Andre Salomons
commented
I see that when you open a new site the copy function is back. I hope this is not the final version! You should be able to browse for the destination, not to copy the url for the destination.
When will the final version be provisioned?
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Anonymous
commented
From the perspective of implementing simple business process solutions, this would be a great improvement to SharePoint. Users can relate to the idea of moving a file as part of a business process. For example moving files to a folder or library with a retention schedule is a simple way of helping users manage records in SharePoint.
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Magali Noury
commented
We just need to move files between 2 libraries with a popup for the mandatories metadatas
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Anonymous
commented
Shocking that files within one site cannot be moved to differing doc lib!
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Joe
commented
Its incredible , and probably the route cause SharePoint gets such a bad name in enterprises , you can not move files!! all the new features and accessibility of sharepoint online which we have just rolled out are overlooked because basic file management functionality is still missing. (sorry for project managers like myself being tasked with successful user adoption its so frustrating). please please MS respond to your customers
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LCDohn
commented
This is a much needed feature for SharePoint Online. Not only to be able to move and copy within the same library but also between libraries and collections. Have a client now with the need to move documents from the team site into a Records Collection. The Records Library site cannot be synced because it is over 1TB in size. WE have to use 3RD migration tool for now to move these files.
