Forum Discussion
Lossing versioning history, while using copy to function in modern sharepoint library.
intern2020 We have this problem too. It does not appear to be a documented behaviour and only found it by accident when testing a new document management system. This has the potential to cause serious inadvertent digital content loss for anyone using sharepoint systems.
- This is expected behavior. Move copies version history, copy only copies the most recent version of a file. You can find the documentation here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/move-or-copy-files-in-sharepoint-00e2f483-4df3-46be-a861-1f5f0c1a87bc.
thanks Susan - but I was not referring to the version history of the source file - but the version history of the destination file.
We have version history set up in a library (eg 'published' or shared with an external team) to record the history of items shared and we populate that library from a separate working library (eg WIP library open to an internal team). We need to keep the history of versions shared with the external team. Uploading files to the shared library preserves the history of previous items, but copying the file - current version only (expected behaviour - I don't want the version history from the working library) deletes the full version history in the receiving library. This happens even if the receiving library has check out to edit applied to protect the contents from accidental editing and the item is not checked out. How does anyone keep the important history safe under these circumstances?- Have you tried adding a retention policy to the library? I think that should help preserve all prior versions. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/retention-policies-sharepoint?view=o365-worldwide
