How To Get The External Columns From SharePoint Online Lists Using PnP PowerShell

In this blog, you will see how to get the external columns from SharePoint Online lists using PnP PowerShell.

In this blog, you will see how to get the external columns by looping through all the lists from root site as well as sub sites using PnP PowerShell.

You can download setup files from the releases section of the PnP PowerShell repository.

Copy the below script and paste it in a notepad. Save the file as GetExternalColumns.ps1. 

# Input Parameters
$siteURL="https://c986.sharepoint.com/sites/dev"

# Loop through all the lists and check if the field is external column
Function GetExternalColumns($web)
{
    $listColl=Get-PnPList -Web $web
    foreach($list in $listColl)
    {
        $fieldColl=Get-PnPField -List $list.Title -Web $web
        foreach($field in $fieldColl)
        {
            if($field.TypeAsString -eq "BusinessData")
            {
                write-host -ForegroundColor DarkYellow "List Name: " $list.Title " Field Name: " $field.Title
            }
        }
    }
}

# Get the root web and call the GetExternalColumns function
Function GetRootWeb()
{
    $rootWeb=Get-PnPWeb
    write-host -ForegroundColor Magenta "Getting information from the website - " $rootWeb.Title " - " $rootWeb.Url
    GetExternalColumns($rootWeb);
}

# Get the all the sub webs and call the GetExternalColumns function
Function GetSubWebs()
{
    $webColl=Get-PnPSubWebs -Recurse
    foreach($web in $webColl)
    {
        write-host -ForegroundColor Magenta "Getting information from the website - " $web.Title " - " $web.Url
        GetExternalColumns($web);
    }
}

# Connect to SharePoint Online site
Connect-PnPOnline –Url $siteURL –Credentials (Get-Credential)

# Call the functions
GetRootWeb
GetSubWebs

Open PowerShell window and run the following command.

 

>cd "<folderlocation>"

folderlocation – GetExternalColumns.ps1 file location

Run the following command,

>.\GetExternalColumns.ps1

 

Thus in this blog, you saw how to get the external columns from SharePoint Online lists using PnP PowerShell.