Comparing Methods To Move Documents While Retaining Version History In Sharepoint
What is Version History and Why Does it Matter When Moving Files?
Version history refers to the ability within SharePoint to store and track multiple iterations of files as they are edited over time. It creates backups of past document states, stores information on revisions such as timestamps and editors, and allows users to view, restore, or promote prior versions if needed.
Maintaining version history provides multiple benefits for collaboration and records management. It supports accountability by ascribing edits to specific users. Teams can review the full lifecycle of files to understand when and why changes occurred. If a mistake is made, an earlier version can be recovered. Versions also facilitate comparison between drafts and protect against accidental overwrites.
However, version history data is associated with the original location of files in SharePoint. If documents are manually moved or copied, prior versions can be stripped out and lost in the process. This destroys access to valuable revision metadata and records. As such, retaining version history when relocating documents is essential.
Common Ways to Move Files in SharePoint
There are a few basic methods for manually organizing or relocating documents through the SharePoint interface:
- Explorer View – The explorer view inside SharePoint Libraries provides drag-and-drop capabilities for files. Users can click and move documents between locations.
- Site Content and Structure – The Site Content option in Site Settings lets administrators shuffle around libraries and folders within a site’s architecture.
Manually moving files through Explorer or Site Content is simple and intuitive. However, these methods strip out version histories for the affected documents by default. All prior revisions and metadata are erased as soon as the move completes, severely limiting document traceability and accountability.
Some manual workarounds exist to retain history like checking documents in/out before moving or restoring from backups post-move. But these are extremely cumbersome at scale across thousands of files. Avoiding manual moves altogether is advised when version history preservation is required.
Programmatically Moving Documents with Retained Histories
Automated tools provide advanced capabilities to relocate documents while retaining complete version data. This includes options like SharePoint Designer workflows and PowerShell scripts. By coding conditions and logic checks, files can be programmatically copied or moved to new locations without information loss.
SharePoint Designer Workflows – Custom workflows contain steps enabling controlled document copies or migrations. The “Copy List Item” action duplicates files while carrying over version history by default. Workflows can be triggered manually or run automatically when certain conditions are met, granting flexibility.
PowerShell Scripts – For advanced users, SharePoint PowerShell commands like Move-SPFile offer fine-tuned control for moving documents. Scripts can target specific sites, libraries, metadata tags and other filters while also parameterizing settings to retain history, permissions and more.
Programmatic methods enable administrators to orchestrate controlled, safe document transfers at scale. However, creating workflows or scripts takes specialized expertise. Factors like security trimming and permission inheritance must also be considered when shifting files to new environments.
Recommendations for Protecting Version Histories
When assessing document migration needs, consider these best practices:
- Leverage manual moves in Site Content for site restructuring changes rather than large-scale file transfers, to limit history loss risks.
- Prototype script runs in lower environments and backup before larger moves.
- Disable automatic workflows before migrating libraries to avoid unwanted propagations.
- Test permission inheritance ahead of time and confirmScriptmetadata survivability.
Though more complex, programmatic methods are fundamentally better suited for preserving version data. Workflow and scripting routines can also incorporate validations, checkpoints and rollback protocols to reduce human error risks.
Example Script for Retaining Version History When Moving Files
Here is a PowerShell snippet that moves a single file while retaining full version history in the transfer:
$sourceWeb = Get-SPWeb https://source.sharepoint.com $sourceLib = $sourceWeb.Lists["Documents Library"] $targetWeb = Get-SPWeb https://target.sharepoint.com $targetLib = $targetWeb.Lists["My Documents"] $file = $sourceLib.GetItemById(16) Move-SPFile -Identity $file.File -Destination $targetLib.RootFolder.Url -Confirm:$false
This script first initializes variables pointing to the source and destination libraries via their SharePoint URLs. It then stores a file reference from the source library using its unique ID. Finally, the Move-SPFile command shifts the file to the target library, passing -Confirm:$false to force move the file without a confirmation prompt.
This approach carries all version history data over to the new location per Move-SPFile’s default behavior. The file ID ensures the correct document is targeted. Expanding the script to loop through source library items would allow this kind of move to be done repetitively at scale.
Key Takeaways and Conclusion
In review, retaining access to document history, revisions and records should be a key priority when moving content. Manual drag and drop transfers readily lose this metadata, breaking traceability.
Programmatic methods like SharePoint workflows and PowerShell scripts provide vastly enhanced controls, including the safe transfer of version histories to new locations. But developing scripts requires expertise, testing and validations to get right.
Organizations reliant on version data should invest in automated approaches as document repositories scale up. With the right planning and precautions, essential file metadata can be protected during SharePoint migrations.
