SharePoint (on-premises) Copy/Move To Another Library Or Site

Dieter Tontsch (GMail) 972 Reputation points
2020-07-27T12:24:09.877+00:00

Is there no option to move folders and/or files from one SharePoint Library to another in SharePoint on-premises? I have a menu to move/copy an document library object, but I can only select fro other destinations within the same Library. Can't I move (or copy) objects to another libary within the same site collecton or even to a library in a different site collecton on the same server?

In SharePoint Online this limitation seems to not exist, there I can browse between libraries in same site collection or even different site collections. but not in SharePoint 2019 on-premises. And anyway, I only see the move/copy to menu if I am using the modern experience view, this isn't there in classic view mode.

Also I do expect to keep all my versions while moving an object, assuming that target library does support same or more versions of a document. How does this work of rmoving and vor copying?

kind regards,
Dieter

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint Server | For business
Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Windows
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6 answers

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  1. trevorseward 11,711 Reputation points
    2020-07-27T15:18:13.217+00:00

    Moving does retain version history -- but as you noted, there are significant differences in 2019 versus SPO. 2019 is a snapshot-in-time and 'what you see is what you get' in terms of out of the box functionality, such as Move To limitations.

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  2. JoyZ 18,111 Reputation points
    2020-07-28T05:58:26.247+00:00

    As a supplement, please refer to the following article to understand the limitations of SharePoint Server 2019 copy/move.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/move-or-copy-files-in-sharepoint-00e2f483-4df3-46be-a861-1f5f0c1a87bc#bkmk_2019move

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  3. Yannick Katambo 1 Reputation point
    2020-08-04T10:34:43.59+00:00

    You can also use this options it's available in IE. It basically opens your SharePoint site folder and files in Windows File Explorer you can copy and paste or drag and drop.

    15561-sharepointshare.png

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  4. Pronizius 46 Reputation points
    2022-02-01T07:47:22.947+00:00

    I trying currently the same in SharePoint Server Subscription Edition. Also here it is still NOT possible to copy / move files to other libraries or sites :(

    To be honest, this is just crap. So you can use the active-x "open with explorer", which opens classic design. And you need Internet Explorer or Edge in IE Modus and of course have again a break in design.
    Or you need OneDrive and Sync both libraries to copy or move (total overkill). Which open a lot of other problems (you need o365 accounts, block personal accounts, ...)

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  5. Dieter Tontsch (GMail) 972 Reputation points
    2022-02-01T07:52:56.723+00:00

    I totally agree. How can such a basic task be so limited after so many years of development.

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