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grahamjones26's avatar
grahamjones26
Copper Contributor
Nov 14, 2023

Script to delete all but last five versions of files SharePoint online

Hi Would anyone know of a script to delete old versions of files in Sharepoint online document library but keep the last five? Thanks for reading
@sharepoint online
Windows PowerShell
LeonPavesic's avatar
LeonPavesic
Silver Contributor
Nov 14, 2023

Hi grahamjones26,

you can try to use this script below:

# This script deletes all but the last 5 versions of each document in a SharePoint Online library

# Connect to SharePoint Online site
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/MySite"
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -Interactive

# Get the library name
$libraryName = "Documents"

# Get all the items in the library
$items = Get-PnPListItem -List $libraryName

# Loop through each item
foreach ($item in $items) {
    # Get the file object
    $file = $item.File

    # Get the versions of the file
    $versions = $file.Versions

    # Sort the versions by creation date in descending order
    $sortedVersions = $versions | Sort-Object -Property Created -Descending

    # Skip the first 5 versions and delete the rest
    $sortedVersions | Select-Object -Skip 5 | ForEach-Object {
        $_.DeleteObject()
    }
}


You need to adapt it to your tenant and to your needs.

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Kindest regards,


Leon Pavesic
(LinkedIn)

  • grahamjones26's avatar
    grahamjones26
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 15, 2023

    LeonPavesic 

    Thank you for your kind help.

    I have ran the script and receive the following error. What have I done wrong?

     

    An error occurred while enumerating through a collection: The collection has not been initialized. It has not been requested or the request has not been executed. It may need to be
    explicitly requested..
    At line:22 char:5
    + $sortedVersions = $versions | Sort-Object -Property Created -Desc ...
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (Microsoft.Share...nt.FileVersion]:<GetEnumerator>d__3) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : BadEnumeration

    An error occurred while enumerating through a collection: The collection has not been initialized. It has not been requested or the request has not been executed. It may need to be
    explicitly requested..
    At line:22 char:5
    + $sortedVersions = $versions | Sort-Object -Property Created -Desc ...
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (Microsoft.Share...nt.FileVersion]:<GetEnumerator>d__3) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : BadEnumeration

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