Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

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Posted on by Femke1

347

Hello everyone,

Hope you are more experienced on this topic than me 😅

My situation:

I have the following situation: there is a specific folder in a sharepoint site (group) that can contain multiple folders and/or files. Those files can be large (2 GB). In the flow I can get the ID and ItemId of the folder (by using 'Get folder metadata using path').

What I want to do:

What I want is to move the folder with it's contents (small + large files + maybe folders with files in them) to another Sharepoint site.

Different methods to do that (as far as I know):

I can do that with different methods, I've already done some research:

1. Move folder

2. Copy folder (and delete old folder/files)

3. Create files (in new folder) + delete old folder/files - but then I miss creating the subfolders?

4. Copy files (in new folder) + delete old folder/files - but then I miss copying the subfolders?

5. Move folders/files with HTTP request

I got errors trying method 1 and 3:

I had different errors when testing with some of the above methods (1 and 3, I did not test 2, 4 and 5 yet). Most of them had to do with filesize. I stopped to look into other errors (such as: Missing or mismatched field definition on the destination list for source field of Failed to verify the existence of destination location) for now, because I first want to know which method is the most reliable one for copying/creating/moving large files (such as files that are 2 GB in size).

So I started to dig into that, but I couldn't find an overview of limitations using these methods. Spent quite some time trying to find the information in pieces, but I'm starting to drown 😵.

My question:

Can somebody tell me if it is possible moving folders (with large files of 2 GB + subfolders)? And which method can I use best?

Thanks a lot in advance 🙏

Femke

Categories:

Business Process Flows

All responses (12)

Answers (1)

Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Hi @szaj ,

For me the Sharepoint action 'Move folder' worked just fine after solving some errors. I don't actually remember what I solved, but I remember it was quite easy after I took a good look at it.

First use 'Get folder metadata using path':

Good luck! 💪

Femke
szaj 2 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Hi Femke1,

What was your solution? I am having similar troubles and would love some help.
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Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Update: I got some great help with the errors that I encountered earlier and now it works! We've tested it with files (20 GB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 5 GB, 500 MB and 12 GB in one folder with subfolders) and everything went smoothly (even with these numbers and large files) with just the action 'move folder'...

Sometimes you have to work very hard for a simple solution 🙈
Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Been doing other stuff, but I'm back now trying to resolve this. I did find more details 🙂

In the body of the inputs of GetCopyJobProgress I can see this:
{
"copyJobInfo": {
"EncryptionKey": "zZLYtnSxP8FPM4M1+SOQNKei2alHgg3PvSsUrdRPgzM=",
"JobId": "ae3132c0-ec9c-4f12-ae6f-289c20694ba7",
"JobQueueUri": "https://spodb1am1m006p3.queue.core.windows.net/3-2553-20231220-afa8aceae18341688f251809621caab4?sv=2018-03-28&sig=aBXRpSaxlLTd7FJ3tCJ1%2BYeeyVfaSFEnTrzB1MxiM74%3D&st=2023-11-28T00%3A00%3A00Z&se=2023-12-20T00%3A00%3A00Z&sp=rap",
"SourceListItemUniqueIds": []
}
}

In the body of the outputs of GetCopyJobProgress I can see this:
{
"status": 400,
"message": "{\"odata.error\":{\"code\":\"-1, Microsoft.Data.OData.ODataException\",\"message\":{\"lang\":\"en-US\",\"value\":\"A node of type 'StartArray' was read from the JSON reader when trying to read a value of a property; however, a 'PrimitiveValue' or 'StartObject' node was expected.\"}}}\r\nclientRequestId: b27c9c6b-3b66-4287-9b8b-ddd0e06688ee\r\nserviceRequestId: b8c4f2a0-f00d-7000-a6ee-873009dda23a",
"source": "https://xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/xxxxxx/_api/site/GetCopyJobProgress",
"errors": []
}

I see that SourceListItemUniqueIds is empty, and in the comments I see Reza Dorrani saying something about the SourceListItemsUniqueIds.

I think I'm going to rebuilt a test flow from scratch and dive back in to this topic.

Any help is welcome 🙏 😉
Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

It's the error in the screenshot. It doesn't give me more error details, cause there is an action in the beginning of the flow that gives an error (it errors if I'm not a certain person - which I'm not, so I gave the next action a 'configure run after' and ticked all the boxes) and those error details are shown...

So I can only tell you this:
- In the Apply to each loop (Wait for copy job to complete'): ActionFailed. An action failed. No dependent actions succeeded.
- In the HTTP request to SP 'GetCopyJobProgress': BadRequest.

Hope this helps? I don't know a way to get the error details of a particular action?
fchopo 7,968 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Could you share the error you get when running the workflow?
Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Thank you for the links!

I'm trying to replicate what zplume did in his article (so I can accept your answer as solution), but I keep getting errors:

Do you have a clue? I'm not getting anywhere 🙈. I'm going to built my replica again I guess 🙂
fchopo 7,968 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Hi @Femke1

When I talk about throttling limits I refer to those: Limits of automated, scheduled, and instant flows - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

Regarding SharePoint, there are some limitations: SharePoint - Connectors | Microsoft Learn

Hope it helps!

Ferran
Femke1 347 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Hi @fchopo ,

Thanks again for your reply and help. This is one of the articles that I've come across during my research 🥳

Do you maybe have information about the limitations? What did you mean by 'you will probably hit throttling limits (file size, number of requests)'?

In the meantime, I think I'm going to go ahead and try that method (HTTP request). Thanks again 🙏
fchopo 7,968 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at

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Re: Move folder (with large files and subfolders) from 1 site to another site (within the same tenant)

Hi @Femke1

I would definitely try to move objects using "Send an HTTP Request to SharePoint". Here you can find an excellent article on how to do that: Cross-site collection file copy with SharePoint Online REST APIs in Microsoft Flow.md · GitHub

Honestly, I haven't tried copying an entire folder instead of a specific file (as it's shown in the sample).

Hope that helps!

Ferran