Announcing File Copy/Move for SharePoint Modern Document Libraries
Published Aug 10 2016 03:14 PM 44.6K Views
Microsoft

Following on the announcements we made at our May 4th Future of SharePoint event, we’re happy to announce that we’ve begun the first phase of our rollout for copying and moving files between SharePoint and OneDrive.

 

Modern file management is built on top of modern document libraries, now fully rolled out to production. We know that many modern information workers begin content creation inside One Drive for Business, and then need to publish more finished content to a wider audience on a SharePoint team site.

 

Initially, you’ll be able to copy files from OneDrive for Business to destinations in SharePoint or OneDrive. Once you select a file inside OneDrive, you’ll see the Copy to option appear on the command bar. Copy to uses intelligence from the Microsoft Graph to display about your most frequently used sites, along with the option to browse to sites you’re following, as well as other locations within OneDrive.

destination.png

File Copy destination panel

Modern Copy/Move works for both modern and classic experiences on target team site document libraries.  You can copy single files, multiple files, or whole folders, preserving metadata.

 

Today, there are two notable restrictions. At this point, each copy operation between OneDrive and SharePoint is limited to a maximum size of 50MB. If a user tries to copy a larger amount of data to SharePoint, they will be reminded that large file copies can only use the current OneDrive as a target. Also, files can be copied from OneDrive to SharePoint, but not yet from team site to team site.

 

adddest.PNG

 

We have more plans to enhance the Copy/Move functions in the coming months:

  • Adding support for all file sizes, beyond today’s 50MB limit.  (We know the vast majority of files in OneDrive are below this limit today.)
  • Copy files among SharePoint team sites. 
  • Finally, we will also add the ability to move files, as well as copy files, among SharePoint Team sites as well as OneDrive sources.

Although this is an early version of these personal content management enhancements, we’re happy to start extending these capabilities to all information workers. Our rollout will start in August for First Release tenants, and will then proceed to full production over the coming weeks. Once this goes live, users will see “balloon help” inside OneDrive to alert them to the new capability.

ballhelp.png

 

More information

Please visit our support article “Copy files and folders from One Drive for Business to a SharePoint site” for more detailed technical information. And please share your feedback here on the Office 365 Network or on http://sharepoint.uservoice.com. Thank you.

55 Comments
Steel Contributor

You say ... Modern file management is built on top of modern document libraries, now fully rolled out to production ... Is First Release considered production?  I was under the impression MODERN was only rolled out to First Release folks.

Microsoft

@Paul Beiler thanks.  Modern libraries are fully rolled out to all SharePoint online tenants.

 

Steel Contributor

Strange.  My SPO tenant does not have the Modern Document Library.  We don't use metadata.  The SharePoint SHAREPOINT LIST AND LIBRARIES EXPERIENCE is set to AUTO DETECT.  I'm not overridding other settings.  We made one change to show our own logo and color on the banner accross the top of each site.  Would that logo and color change keep us from getting the MODERN document libraries?

Copper Contributor

Will this function also allow Copy to an Office 365 Group OneDrive?

Microsoft

@Reece Gallagher Yes, Office 365 Groups will show up in the list of sites.

Silver Contributor

Can this be used to copy from one users OneDrive for Business to my personal OneDrive for Business?

Microsoft

@Brent Ellis right now the copying is within the scope of a single tenant, not cross tenant and not OneDrive (Consumer).  @Reece Gallagher Offioce 365 Groups are really Team SItes under the hood, and we've committed to turning all Groups into full Team Sites soon. 

Microsoft

@Paul Beiler it depends on how you customized the banner page, and if it involved jQuery or master poage changes that can trigger autofallback to classic mode for libraries.  Id suggest creationg an unbranded site and see if we can trigger modern there.  cc @Lincoln DeMaris

Steel Contributor

Following your suggestion ... I created a new site, (not sub site), using the Enterprise\Document-Center template.  I uploaded two files for an added visual of which view (classic/modern) I was in.  The new site is in the CLASSIC view. 

 

Let me clarify what we are talking about.

This is NOT what I'm referring to ... The SITES page on the waffle menu, got changed and renamed to SHAREPOINT.  I'm good here.

This is NOT what I'm referring to ... The SITES CONTENTS view changed.  I'm good here.

This IS what I'm referring to ... There is the MODERN document library that has the command bar instead of the ribbon.  I do NOT have this.  While I could go into each library and change the view for that library only, that is not practical. 

 

I do understand updates are constantly occurring.  My concern is that one day everyone in my tenant will see the MODERN document view and I will have had no notice it was coming, and because I don't see it now, I cannot prepare for this change.  I have three of us in the tenant setup as FIRST RELEASE.  None of us have the MODERN document view.

Copper Contributor

Would it also be possible to copy files from SharePoint to OneDrive for business, or does this only work from OneDrive for business to SharePoint, also will it be stored in the metadeta, or would it be some trace of the fact that I copied the file from OneDrive to SharePoint? 

 

Or can I use this to copy from one SharePoint Library to another SharePoint Library, that function is also really in demand.

 

Because what if someone updates the file in Onedrive for business, or in a "master-SharePoint-library" it would be great if that would be the "master-file" and i could just push out changes to all the places where this file have been copied to, like I could do with Content Types for instance.

 

Cheers!


@Chris McNulty wrote:

Following on the announcements we made at our May 4th Future of SharePoint event, we’re happy to announce that we’ve begun the first phase of our rollout for copying and moving files between SharePoint and OneDrive.

 

Modern file management is built on top of modern document libraries, now fully rolled out to production. We know that many modern information workers begin content creation inside One Drive for Business, and then need to publish more finished content to a wider audience on a SharePoint team site.

 

Initially, you’ll be able to copy files from OneDrive for Business to destinations in SharePoint or OneDrive. Once you select a file inside OneDrive, you’ll see the Copy to option appear on the command bar. Copy to uses intelligence from the Microsoft Graph to display about your most frequently used sites, along with the option to browse to sites you’re following, as well as other locations within OneDrive.

destination.png

File Copy destination panel

Modern Copy/Move works for both modern and classic experiences on target team site document libraries.  You can copy single files, multiple files, or whole folders, preserving metadata.

 

Today, there are two notable restrictions. At this point, each copy operation between OneDrive and SharePoint is limited to a maximum size of 50MB. If a user tries to copy a larger amount of data to SharePoint, they will be reminded that large file copies can only use the current OneDrive as a target. Also, files can be copied from OneDrive to SharePoint, but not yet from team site to team site.

 

adddest.PNG

 

We have more plans to enhance the Copy/Move functions in the coming months:

  • Adding support for all file sizes, beyond today’s 50MB limit.  (We know the vast majority of files in OneDrive are below this limit today.)
  • Copy files among SharePoint team sites. 
  • Finally, we will also add the ability to move files, as well as copy files, among SharePoint Team sites as well as OneDrive sources.

Although this is an early version of these personal content management enhancements, we’re happy to start extending these capabilities to all information workers. Our rollout will start in August for First Release tenants, and will then proceed to full production over the coming weeks. Once this goes live, users will see “balloon help” inside OneDrive to alert them to the new capability.

ballhelp.png

 

More information

Please visit our support article “Copy files and folders from One Drive for Business to a SharePoint site” for more detailed technical information. And please share your feedback here on the Office 365 Network or on http://sharepoint.uservoice.com. Thank you.



@Chris McNulty wrote:

Following on the announcements we made at our May 4th Future of SharePoint event, we’re happy to announce that we’ve begun the first phase of our rollout for copying and moving files between SharePoint and OneDrive.

 

Modern file management is built on top of modern document libraries, now fully rolled out to production. We know that many modern information workers begin content creation inside One Drive for Business, and then need to publish more finished content to a wider audience on a SharePoint team site.

 

Initially, you’ll be able to copy files from OneDrive for Business to destinations in SharePoint or OneDrive. Once you select a file inside OneDrive, you’ll see the Copy to option appear on the command bar. Copy to uses intelligence from the Microsoft Graph to display about your most frequently used sites, along with the option to browse to sites you’re following, as well as other locations within OneDrive.

destination.png

File Copy destination panel

Modern Copy/Move works for both modern and classic experiences on target team site document libraries.  You can copy single files, multiple files, or whole folders, preserving metadata.

 

Today, there are two notable restrictions. At this point, each copy operation between OneDrive and SharePoint is limited to a maximum size of 50MB. If a user tries to copy a larger amount of data to SharePoint, they will be reminded that large file copies can only use the current OneDrive as a target. Also, files can be copied from OneDrive to SharePoint, but not yet from team site to team site.

 

adddest.PNG

 

We have more plans to enhance the Copy/Move functions in the coming months:

  • Adding support for all file sizes, beyond today’s 50MB limit.  (We know the vast majority of files in OneDrive are below this limit today.)
  • Copy files among SharePoint team sites. 
  • Finally, we will also add the ability to move files, as well as copy files, among SharePoint Team sites as well as OneDrive sources.

Although this is an early version of these personal content management enhancements, we’re happy to start extending these capabilities to all information workers. Our rollout will start in August for First Release tenants, and will then proceed to full production over the coming weeks. Once this goes live, users will see “balloon help” inside OneDrive to alert them to the new capability.

ballhelp.png

 

More information

Please visit our support article “Copy files and folders from One Drive for Business to a SharePoint site” for more detailed technical information. And please share your feedback here on the Office 365 Network or on http://sharepoint.uservoice.com. Thank you.




 

 

Copper Contributor

I still don't see the "Copy to.. Sharepoint" as an option. Is this feature rolled out as yet? I'm already in the fast track group (or whatever it is called)

Microsoft

@Knut Relbe-Moe Currently the feature only works from OneDrive for Business to SharePoint but its definitely in the roadmap to enable SharePoint to OneDrive for Business and across SharePoint sites.

 

There is no connection between the copy and its parent/master file at this time but has come up before so it’s something I’m considering as a future improvement.

Microsoft

@Paul Beiler can you try setting a single library to modern?  How about the tenant level setting?  Its already rolled out - so you likely have a setting somewhere that's reverting to classic.

Steel Contributor

Thanks, Chris McNulty.  I have set individual libraries to get the MODERN document view.  That is good.  In this case, I'm trying to figure out why my tenant is getting reverted to the classic view.  I'm a WHY kind of person.  Unlike my users who don't care about the why, and just want it to work.  I'll keep me ears and eyes open and wait for my tenant to get the MODERN view.

Microsoft

@Vincent Haakmat We've started rollout to first release users this week so if you're in that group you should see it this week.

Deleted
Not applicable

I have the pop up balloon telling me I can use Copy To with SharePoint sites, yet when I go to the panel on the right, the only destination I can pick is within my own OneDrive site.  It's odd to advertise a new feature to a user without it working.

CopyToLocations.png

 

My account is select first release and my tenant is not first release.

Copper Contributor

Is there also a limit on the number of items in a folder that can be copied, this seems not to be related to the 50MB size limit?

Copper Contributor

Also I noticed that some SharePoint sites don't show up on my list to copy to even if I am following them and/or they show in my recent lists. Are there any restrictions that would stop a SPTeamsite from showing in the list?

Microsoft

@Kelly Jones Thanks for reporting. You shouldn’t be seeing the pop up balloon if copy to SharePoint sites is not enabled for you. The fix for the pop up balloon is on its way.

 

The reason you’re likely not seeing SharePoint sites show up though is likely because scripting is turned on for personal sites. The dependency on scripting being turned off is a security measure to safeguard against cross-site scripting attacks. It is only required on personal sites though, custom scripts can continue working on team sites with no impact to this feature. Our hope is you can continue your scenarios requiring script on team sites but would like to learn more if this doesn’t work for you.

 

If you’re an admin, you can check whether scripting is turned on following these instructions.

Microsoft

@Karen Wild Can you provide the number of items in the folder you are trying to copy from OneDrive for Business to SharePoint?

 

On the list of sites, we currently show team sites, O365 groups and project sites only. If you're using any other site template interested in knowing which ones you would like us to include in the future.

 

Copper Contributor

Custom scripting is turned off on our site (was never on) however,we still don't see this option.

Copper Contributor

I wonder why it takes so long to see new features. Even Outlook.com is still showing me the old site. I pracicaly gave up on that one to change over to the new look. I am waiting for weeks on this feature to copy files from my ODfB to SharePoint, but again, nothing yet. Can be very frustrating, especially since i set the option to deliver new features to everyone.

Silver Contributor

We have modern libraries in SharePoint currently turned off.

 

Will it be possible to DISABLE the new move to /copy to feature?

 

Want to be sure to protect some content that does not need to be moved/copied.

Microsoft

@Vincent Haakmat Are you part of the First Release users track? Right now we've only enabled the feature to first release users and 10% of first release tenants. If your tenant is in First Release, you should see it soon. 

Microsoft

@Brent Ellis We currently don't have plans to surface an option to disable this feature. 

Steel Contributor

Anyone know the PowerShell Command to check if any Personal Sites have any "custom scipt" running? before I change the setting?

I looked in the Technet Reference and do not see how to crawl my tenant looking for custom script.

I don't know why but my SharePoint settings has it enabled and I do not want to change until I have contacted each of the affected users.

Thanks!

Silver Contributor

So, what happens if I have a sharepoint library that a user has been given "View Only" no download rights?

 

Are they still able to copy the file?

Deleted
Not applicable

Forrest Hoffman -- we have the same issue.  Custom scripts are allowed on OneDrive, but I'm not sure how to determine the impact of disabling them.  I'm working on a script that will identify OneDrive sites with subsites, which I'm thinking will give me some indication of a site where the user is doing something beyond storing documents.

 

I really wish I had a script that would actually identify OneDrive sites with scripts.

Microsoft

@Forest Hoffman & @Kelly Jones - Turning off scripting on personal sites prevents users from creating new scripts but does not remove existing ones so those should continue to work. 

 

Check out the “Features affected when scripting is disabled” section this article for more information:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Turn-scripting-capabilities-on-or-off-1f2c515f-5d7e-448a-9f...

Steel Contributor

Thanks, Melissa,

I had seen that page and I am confused because the settings on the SharePoint Admin portal are supposed to be for personal pages,  But the article you reference says that it can affect things for the Tenant and the Site Collection owners, and SharePoint Designer.  We use Designer and InfoPath a lot.  I made the changes anyway.  I guess if SharePoint has errors with what exists , I'll hear about it.

Iron Contributor

@Forrest Hoffman, a man after my own heart. I've just disabled it on ours as well. It's not like I just moved our whole staff intranet to Office 365 or anything...

Microsoft

@Brent Ellis If the user has granted someone "View only" permissions then same as with download, the copy command will not be available.

Iron Contributor

Please excuse me if this is not the right place to come with this suggestion, I welcome any tips on where this request would get the right attention.

 

I would love to see a more detailed track of updates to the new Docuement Library experience. When I look at the Roadmap, filtered for SharePoint, the project "SharePoint Online - modern document library experience" is located under "Lauched". The descriptioin entails the following: "...And finally, when the team needs to bring in files from OneDrive for Business, or publish files between document libraries, users can click Move to and Copy to move and copy files when they are needed in other locations across Office 365, without generating unnecessary versions of the same files."

 

Now, my point is that this description includes details that, as far as I understand, are actually not yet "Fully released updates that are now generally available for applicable customers" (the definition of Launced on the Roadmap). As stated in this discussion, there are functions that are not yet released:


 

We have more plans to enhance the Copy/Move functions in the coming months:

  • Adding support for all file sizes, beyond today’s 50MB limit.  (We know the vast majority of files in OneDrive are below this limit today.)
  • Copy files among SharePoint team sites. 
  • Finally, we will also add the ability to move files, as well as copy files, among SharePoint Team sites as well as OneDrive sources.

 


If the "New Library Experience" could be broken down to a more detailed overview of what you are currently working on, customers would need to spend less time searching sources like this, or open support tickets, to know if/when features will become available. Example features that I have to follow threads to get updates on, rather than just check what's in the pipeline, are (1) move files beween site within SharePoint and; (2) Global Navigation inheritence in the new libraries (that are not yet here, but critical to many customers).

Steel Contributor

I had to change the options back to Allow the custom scripting.  When it was turned off almost all of our main Intranet page stopped working.  The web parts basically disappeared.  The links had invalid refefrences.  I also had one of the main things used by our VP stop functioning.  The Save List as Template stopped.  Not sure how to proceed as I do not think we have the resources to visit every SharePoint page to see how setting the defaults and enabling the New Experience will work.  Most of the end users in our company are complaining about the SharePoint "New Experience" and OneDrive changes. 

Deleted
Not applicable

We currently have these settings:

 

ScriptingSettingsScreenShot.png

 

To make the Copy To functionality work in OneDrive, I think we simply have to change it to the below, right?

 

ScriptingSettingsScreenShot2.png

Microsoft

@Deleted To make the Copy To functionality work in OneDrive you need to set "Prevent users from running custom script on personal sites" only. You don't need to change the setting for self-service created sites. It should look like the screenshot below:

 

CustomScriptSetting.PNG

 

@Forrest Hoffman Can you verify that you set ""Prevent users from running custom script on personal sites" and didn't change the setting for self-service created sites?

Deleted
Not applicable

Yes! Melissa Torres -- that's what I meant to say.  Thanks for picking up on that typo (screenshot).

Steel Contributor

@Melissa Torres I changed both of them as it was shown in the Technical Instructions here .  The screen clip shows both changed and they both mention users.  I am hesitant to make any changes for fear of having it all break again.  The main reason I tried was so we do not have to open multiple Explorer views to copy between sites.  Many times Open or View in Explorer faults for other reasons that perplex us.  I think maybe I will let @Deleted confirm all is well before I make any more changes.

Copper Contributor

Hi Guys,

 

I love the update! It really helps with the content development process I have established, where staff create preliminary documents on OneDrive and then migrate them into their team site.

 

Two points of feedback:

 

  1. If I copy a file from OneDrive for Business to SharePoint, and I then update the OneDrive for Business file and re-copy it to SharePoint, I lose the version history of the file - there is no version history, just the last copy (which is inconsistent to the user experience).
  2. I agree with @Pontus T, that having copies sent to SharePoint means that when I search for my documents in SharePoint, the search results shows documents in SharePointand OneDrive for Business , which was a good thing, until now:

 

duplicate.JPG

Copper Contributor

I was having trouble getting a list of recent Office 365 Groups to appear in the 'copy to' screen. Worked with Office 365 support and found that Microsoft Graph had to be enabled in Sharepoint Settings as well. I had it disabled previously to prevent Delve from appearing in the list of users' apps. Enabling Graph did the trick. I'd recommend updating this blog and the Microsoft support site to show that as a requirement as well.

Copper Contributor

I had to read the following 3 times to make sure I had read it correctly..

 

"On the list of sites, we currently show team sites, O365 groups and project sites only. If you're using any other site template interested in knowing which ones you would like us to include in the future."

 

I am struggling to understand the mentality behind this restriction.

 

One would assume the ability to copy to document center and record center was obvious.

 

One would further assume that user should be able to copy to any site that contains a document library.

 

Without the above capability is severly restricted - is there no way around?

Microsoft

Hi folks.  Today, we're happy to extend our First Release announcement.  As we annouced on the Office 365 Message Center, we've completed the rollout to First Release and are now staritng the rollout process for general release.  Watch for Copy/Move coming soon!

Bronze Contributor

Hi @Chris McNulty,

 

Is there a rough timeline for copy/move from TeamSite to TeamSite (=O365 Group to O365 Group) for first release?

This is pretty much the only thing I'm missing to trash our SMB File Shares. 

Brass Contributor

How is this happening behind the scenes? Is there an API we could take advantage of to move documents between site collections while retaining metadata?

Steel Contributor

I want to know this too -- if there is an API that we can use.  I'm SOOOOOOO happy about this feature and our users are REALLY happy.  Plus, so far, it just works.

Copper Contributor

@Karen Wild Relating to https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Upload-a-folder-or-files-to-a-document-library-eb18fcba-c95... currently you can upload up to 100 files at a time and maximum file size is 10 GB.

 

Copper Contributor

Hi there,

 

Should you be able to use the new modern features to copy/move file data from Team Sites to Publishing Sites? 

 

I have hit a wall with this and it doesn't appear to be compatible?  I'd like to know if anyone else has the same experience and has resolved.

 

I can however copy/move from the Publishing site to other Team Sites.

Microsoft

We can look at this (adding @Miceile Barrett) to see what needs to be done to unblock classic publshing sites.

Copper Contributor

@Chris McNulty - Very much appreciated Chris, it would be good to have an understanding of the associated timeframes through to delivey, should mordern copy/move to Publishing sites be sanctioned.

Bronze Contributor
  1. Has the 50MB limit been removed? I just copied some folders and am pretty sure in total they were above 50MB, but since I am not sure how to get folder sizes from the web Sharepoint interface not sure.
  2. Will we ever be able to MOVE data between sites? When we copy, we then have to delete the source files, and of course all history is lost when we do that.
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