Download complete folders in SharePoint on-premise?

Question

Greetings,

I am seeking to attain the ability to download a folder to my local drive once users finish uploading specific files into their designated folders. However, I do not see the option in SharePoint 2019 to download folders, only files. Is there recommended a method of accomplishing this? (I would like to set this up for use without SharePoint Designer.)

Answer 1

Hi @Tevon2.0 ,

Ok, here are the detailed steps:

1. First, you need to determine the url of the subfolder you want to download.

2.You need to replace SharePointFolderUrl(The url obtained in the first step) and Path(the local address you want to save to) in the last line of code: Download-Folder -SharePointFolderUrl "http://sp19/sites/luyi19/Shared Documents/folder1" -Path "C:\SP" -Recurse -Verbose

3.Just run the powershell code in SharePoint 2019 Management Shell.

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Answer 2

Hi @Tevon2.0 ,

By design, Folders and Sub-folders can not support the OOTB "Download a Copy" feature.

As a workaround, you can download specific folders using powershell (You need to replace SharePointFolderUrl and LocalFolderPath in the last line of code).

The url of a specific folder/subfolder can be viewed by the end of the URL of the page(%2F = Forward slash (/), %20= Forward slash (Space)), for example:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Sharepoint.PowerShell

function Download-Folder
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$SharePointFolderUrl,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$Path,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][switch]$Recurse
    )

    begin
    {
    }
    process
    {
        $site   = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($SharePointFolderUrl)
        $web    = $site.OpenWeb()
        $folder = $web.GetFolder($SharePointFolderUrl)

        if( $folder.Exists )
        {
            Write-Verbose "$(Get-Date) - Processing Folder: $($folder.ServerRelativeUrl)"

            foreach( $file in $folder.Files )
            {
                $fileUrl = $site.MakeFullUrl($file.ServerRelativeUrl)
            
                Write-Verbose "$(Get-Date) - Downloading File: $($fileUrl)"

                $response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $fileUrl -UseDefaultCredentials -Verbose:$false
                
                try
                {
                    # combine the provided path to the server relative url
                    $savePath = Join-Path -Path $Path -ChildPath $file.ParentFolder.ServerRelativeUrl

                    # ensure the folder exists
                    New-Item -Path $savePath -ItemType Directory -Force | Out-Null

                    # add the file name to the path
                    $savePath = Join-Path -Path $savePath -ChildPath $file.Name
                    
                    # save the bits locally
                    $stream = New-Object System.IO.FileStream( $savePath, [System.IO.FileMode]::Create, [System.IO.FileAccess]::ReadWrite)
                    $response.RawContentStream.CopyTo($stream)
                }
                finally
                {
                    if( $stream ) 
                    {
                        $stream.Close()
                        $stream.Dispose()
                    }
                }
            }

            if( $Recurse )
            {
                foreach( $subFolder in $folder.SubFolders )
                {
                    if( $subFolder.Item )
                    {
                        $subFolderUrl = $site.MakeFullUrl($subFolder.ServerRelativeUrl)
                        Download-Folder -SharePointFolderUrl $subFolderUrl -Path $Path -Recurse
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    end
    {
    }
}

Download-Folder -SharePointFolderUrl "http://sp19/sites/luyi19/Shared Documents/folder1" -Path "C:\SP" -Recurse -Verbose

The download effect diagram after running is shown in the figure below (it will automatically create a local folder to store the file):

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Answer 3

Use scripts (see above) or use browser-based apps that provide this functionality: see link