Forum Discussion
Microsoft Lists - how to move?
An option is to use Power Automate to migrate your data across. This is a basic run down of what you need to do.
Note: For some fields (e.g. multi choice drop downs etc, images etc) you'll need to add some extra functionality in but this should get you started.
Step 1: Create your new list, based on your original list
This will replicate the columns for you.
In Microsoft Lists
- Select New list
- Select From existing list
- Select My lists in the "Select a team or site" column
- Select the list you want to copy
- Select Next
- Enter the name, description, color and icon of the new list. (If you want to use the same name, it will initially have an error saying "List already exist")
- In the 'Save to' dropdown, select the location for your new list (once changed, the error will disappear)
Step 2: Set up your flow in Power Automate
- Select Create
- Select Manually trigger a flow
- Add the action Get Items (SharePoint)
- For Site Address, select Enter custom value
- You will need to copy/paste your personal list location. You can get this by opening your original list. From the url, copy everything in https://[your-domain].sharepoint.com/personal/[username_domain]
- For List Name, select original list
- For Site Address, select Enter custom value
- Add the action Create Item (SharePoint) - this will also create an Apply to each action for you
- For Site Address, select the site of the new list
- For List name, select the new list
- For each of the fields, select the matching field in the list that pops up under Get Items
- Save and test!
- This worked for me, many thanks. (Co-pilot is helpful for anyone who's not used Power Automate before!)
- The problem is that "excel as a database" isn't working. It's awful. People need and want something like Airtable, Seatable, Baserow, Grist, etc - the familiar spreadsheet interface with the fields and connectivity of a relational database, able to be set up, modified, and understood by a normal person. I had hoped that Lists was Microsoft's attempt to catch up and participate in that arena. It seems not.
LeslieP I hear you. Excel's flexibility has made it this one-stop-shop for a lot of this type of work. If it's working for you, then keep it going. The M365 suite has so many different apps, but they all have limitations or dependencies. The MOCA really highlights how 'noisy' the app collection we have is - I think it's just a case where you pick what's going to fit the way you work.
Where I see Lists working really well is when you're pairing it up with Power Automate and other services. But like you mentioned, that's a different skill set that's not available to everyone.
- Every time I think Lists will be a nice solution to our "Excel All The Things" problem, I find some limitation that is beyond insane, making Lists the app I never can use.
If the solution involves "go to Power Automate and set up this or that" or "in Power Apps do the other thing" or even Sharepoint much of anything - you've rendered the solution unavailable to small businesses that don't have IT staff and don't WANT IT staff, they just want app that work, simply, reliably. parkm23 I’d suggest having a look through your options for SharePoint actions here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sharepointonline/
You may find what you’re looking for
HelloBenTeoh This doesn't help me if I have to copy the attachments and add back all the functionality. I also can't use the copy of the link because I need to move the original list in full with all it's attachments and delete the original team it was in. Please advise.
parkm23 Hey, I haven't tried this yet but you may be able to get some pointers here: Solved: Copy attachments from one SharePoint list to anoth... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)
You'd need to combine this as part of the process of copying your items across to the new list.
Hello, My List is in one MS Team and I need to move it to another Team. the problem is I have Dropdowns and Attachments that have to go with it. What can I do to make sure ALL of the information gets moved? Any help would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
JT_User no, this just replicates the list. You may want to look at building a PowerApp instead if this is something you’ll need to replicate this often or for others. Sounds like you have the nous to build one if you have already used those elements together!
If using the Power Automate solution, will my custom forms/power apps, and flows move with the list?
- No, links, as it turns out.
- Did your list contain uploaded attachments?
- Thank you! (Had a couple of columns that claimed to be read-only, and pictures didn't come, but MUCH better than totally recreating the list. Thank you very much!
- Thanks. As someone not familiar with Power automate, I think this proves why Lists is not a software that I would recommend anyone use. I can essentially get a similar function using Excel - which is far easier to move files. Microsoft needs to figure this out for sure !!
