Sharepoint online "move to" operation fails

MasterBlaster 161

Hi Team,

Hope you are doing good.

When i try to move a document between two document libraries the operation fails.

I figured out it was due to "enforce unique value" set on a specific column, and when i disable it, "move to" operation works.

However, what i do not understand is this is the first file i am moving to this new document library, it should move, however it fails, any idea why it fails when there is no data in destination library?

Looking forward to the response.

@Vasil Michev

Regards,
Harshit Malhotra

1 answer

CaseyYang-MSFT 10,341 Reputation points

2022-03-17T03:14:25.193+00:00

Hi @MasterBlaster ,

According to your description, you enabled "enforce unique value" in destination library. We are not able to use "move to" option when you set "enforce unique value" to yes in destination library. This behavior is by design.

Here is a article from Microsoft: Move or copy files in SharePoint for reference.

The Move to operation will fail if you attempt to move the document across libraries and the destination has enforced unique values.

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MasterBlaster 161 Reputation points

2022-03-17T03:25:14.937+00:00

Hi,

Hope you are doing good.

Thanks for replying,i am aware about this and I have already mentioned that when I disable "enforce unique values" option it allows move to operation.

My question was,that this is a new library with no data in it, and i am moving first file to this destination,what uniqueness is it breaching when there is no data in destination library to compare it with?

Thanks,
Harshit

CaseyYang-MSFT 10,341 Reputation points

2022-03-17T06:47:21.783+00:00

Hi @MasterBlaster ,

I am sorry to have confused you, "The Move to operation will fail if you attempt to move the document across libraries and the destination has enforced unique values." No matter the destination library with data or not the "Move to" will fail because of enforced unique values.

MasterBlaster 161 Reputation points

2022-03-17T07:06:19.757+00:00

This does not make any sense, enforcing does not mean preventing movement of data at all ,it is only enforcing uniqueness,which means there should not be duplication of data, there is no data in the destination,how does it check for uniqueness when there is no data in there.

CaseyYang-MSFT 10,341 Reputation points

2022-03-17T08:14:38.787+00:00

Hi @MasterBlaster ,

You could use "Copy to" as a workaround. Because there is potential for data loss in MoveTo() scenarios, and because this potential is much diminished in CopyTo() scenarios (because the file at the source is not removed), the general rule to follow is to block unique column constraints in MoveTo() operations but allow them in CopyTo() operations. So Microsoft blocks the move if the destination list has enforced unique values. You could send your feedback in Microsoft feedback forum if you don't want to block the move.
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Sharepoint online "move to" operation fails

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