Copying Smart List Items Through PnP PowerShell

In this blog, you will learn about Smart List Items Copying through PnP PowerShell.

Here is a cool script to run so that we can copy all the list items from a Source List to a Target List within the same collection.

 

This is a smart modern way of copying list items without losing any data from any column values. 

 

The amazing part of this PS script is it can handle all types of list columns like look ups, metadata, other data types, and atachments.

 

Here is the PnP script:

Function Copy - SPOAttachments($SourceItem, $TargetItem) {
        Try {
            #Get All Attachments from Source
            $Attachments = Get - PnPProperty - ClientObject $SourceItem - Property "AttachmentFiles"
            $Attachments | ForEach - Object {
                #Download the Attachment to Temp
                $File = Get - PnPFile - Url $_.ServerRelativeUrl - FileName $_.FileName - Path $env: TEMP - AsFile - force
                #Add Attachment to Target List Item
                $FileStream = New - Object IO.FileStream(($env: TEMP + "\"+$_.FileName),[System.IO.FileMode]::Open)
                        $AttachmentInfo = New - Object - TypeName Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.AttachmentCreationInformation $AttachmentInfo.FileName = $_.FileName $AttachmentInfo.ContentStream = $FileStream $AttachFile = $TargetItem.AttachmentFiles.add($AttachmentInfo) $Context.ExecuteQuery() #Delete the Temporary File Remove - Item - Path $env: TEMP\ $($_.FileName) - Force
                    }
                }
                Catch {
                    write - host - f Red "Error Copying Attachments:"
                    $_.Exception.Message
                }
            }
            #Function to list items from one list to another
            Function Copy - SPOListItems() {
                param(
                    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $SourceListName,
                    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string] $TargetListName)
                Try {
                    #Get All Items from the Source List in batches
                    Write - Progress - Activity "Reading Source..." - Status "Getting Items from Source List. Please wait..."
                    $SourceListItems = Get - PnPListItem - List $SourceListName - PageSize 500
                    $SourceListItemsCount = $SourceListItems.count
                    Write - host "Total Number of Items Found:"
                    $SourceListItemsCount
                    #Get fields to Update from the Source List - Skip Read only, hidden fields, content type and attachments
                    $SourceListFields = Get - PnPField - List $SourceListName | Where {
                        (-Not($_.ReadOnlyField)) - and(-Not($_.Hidden)) - and($_.InternalName - ne "ContentType") - and($_.InternalName - ne "Attachments")
                    }
                    #Loop through each item in the source and Get column values, add them to target[int] $Counter = 1
                    ForEach($SourceItem in $SourceListItems) {
                        $ItemValue = @ {}
                        #Map each field from source list to target list
                        Foreach($SourceField in $SourceListFields) {
                            #Check
                            if the Field value is not Null
                            If($SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName] - ne $Null) {
                                #Handle Special Fields
                                $FieldType = $SourceField.TypeAsString
                                If($FieldType - eq "User" - or $FieldType - eq "UserMulti" - or $FieldType - eq "Lookup" - or $FieldType - eq "LookupMulti") #People Picker or Lookup Field {
                                    $LookupIDs = $SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName] | ForEach - Object {
                                        $_.LookupID.ToString()
                                    }
                                    $ItemValue.add($SourceField.InternalName, $LookupIDs)
                                }
                                ElseIf($FieldType - eq "URL") #Hyperlink {
                                    $URL = $SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName].URL
                                    $Description = $SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName].Description
                                    $ItemValue.add($SourceField.InternalName, "$URL, $Description")
                                }
                                ElseIf($FieldType - eq "TaxonomyFieldType" - or $FieldType - eq "TaxonomyFieldTypeMulti") #MMS {
                                    $TermGUIDs = $SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName] | ForEach - Object {
                                        $_.TermGuid.ToString()
                                    }
                                    $ItemValue.add($SourceField.InternalName, $TermGUIDs)
                                }
                                Else {
                                    #Get Source Field Value and add to Hashtable
                                    $ItemValue.add($SourceField.InternalName, $SourceItem[$SourceField.InternalName])
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        Write - Progress - Activity "Copying List Items:" - Status "Copying Item ID '$($SourceItem.Id)' from Source List ($($Counter) of $($SourceListItemsCount))" - PercentComplete(($Counter / $SourceListItemsCount) * 100)
                        #Copy column value from source to target
                        $NewItem = Add - PnPListItem - List $TargetListName - Values $ItemValue
                        #Copy Attachments
                        Copy - SPOAttachments - SourceItem $SourceItem - TargetItem $NewItem
                        Write - Host "Copied Item ID from Source to Target List:$($SourceItem.Id) ($($Counter) of $($SourceListItemsCount))"
                        $Counter++
                    }
                }
                Catch {
                    Write - host - f Red "Error:"
                    $_.Exception.Message
                }
            }
            #Connect to PnP Online
            Connect - PnPOnline - Url "https://abcd.sharepoint.com/sites/ArchivalDevelopmentTest" - useweblogin
            $Context = Get - PnPContext
            #Call the Function to Copy List Items between Lists
            Copy - SPOListItems - SourceListName "CountriesArchive" - TargetListName "CountriesArchive2"

Just configure the above highlighted areas as per your requirement. 

 

Advantages

 

You can use the above script for a cool, smooth Archival process; i.e., Copy + Remove, as you know how to remove list items batchwise using PowerShell once the above copying is finished.  

 

This is applicable for both the Modern and Classic experience. 

 

Drawbacks

 

It will copy duplicate values if we run it mutliple times.

 

We can copy ListItems to another List within the same Site Collection only, as SP Context can read one Site Call at a time.

 

CrossSites are not supported.

 

Some other ideas - Go with Migration Tools if you want to go with Site Collections from different tenants on SP Online.

 

Cheers