SharePoint 2010 - How to Move and Copy Site Without PowerShell?

In the lifetime of a SharePoint deployment, we need to restructure sites like:

1. Copy one site to another parent
2. Move one site to another parent

Surely there are PowerShell, STSADM, and Server Object Model ways of doing it. But here I describe the SharePoint Web Interface way of doing it.

The advantage is that we can do it without the help of SharePoint Administrator & Central Administration.

Content Database

Each site collection resides in a content database. In the case of a web application, there could be multiple content databases.

Copying Site

Now let us see how to copy a site from one location to another. Open your SharePoint site & choose "Site Actions" > "Site Settings".



Choose "Site Administration" > "Content and Structure". In the page that appears, choose the sub site & context menu, then "Copy item".



You will get the following dialog to choose the destination site.

We are copying the site from one parent to another parent.



Choose your Destination Parent & click the "Ok" button. Your copy operation should begin now.



Wait for a few minutes until the contents are copied. You can see the new site created.



You can try accessing it using the URL.



The site appears as in the following:



Moving Site

For moving a site, you can use the Move context menu item & then choose the destination parent site.



Note: If you cannot see the Site Content and Structure link then you need to activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature from "Site Settings" > "Site Collection" command.



References

http://bit.ly/102VB0C

Summary

In this article we have seen how to move/copy a site without using PowerShell.