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SharePoint Online: Get All Folders from List or Library using PowerShell

Salaudeen Rajack 1 Comment , ,

Requirement: Get All Folders from a SharePoint Online list using PowerShell.

PowerShell to Get All Folders in a SharePoint Online List

PowerShell to Get All Folders in a SharePoint Online List

In many cases, you may need to get a list of all folders within a SharePoint Online list or library. This can be accomplished using PowerShell. This blog post will show you how to get all folders from a list or library using PowerShell!

Here is the CAML-based approach to get all folders and sub-folders recursively from a list:

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

#Set Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$ListName = "Documents"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
Try {
    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.UserName,$Cred.Password)

    #Get the List
    $List = $Ctx.web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
    
    #Define CAML Query to get all folders from list recursively
    $CAMLQuery = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery
    $CAMLQuery.ViewXml = "<View Scope='RecursiveAll'><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='FSObjType'/><Value Type='Integer'>1</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>"

    #Get All Folders from the List
    $Folders = $List.GetItems($CAMLQuery)
    $Ctx.Load($Folders)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

    #Iterate through Each Folder
    ForEach($Folder in $Folders)
    {
        #Get the Folder's Server Relative URL
        Write-host $Folder.FieldValues['FileRef']
    }
}
catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

This PowerShell gets the list of folders from a SharePoint Online library.

SharePoint Online: Get Sub-Folders from a SharePoint Online List using PowerShell

Let’s get all top-level folders from a list or library in SharePoint Online.

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

#Set Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$ListName = "Documents"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
Try {
    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.UserName,$Cred.Password)

    #Get the List
    $List = $Ctx.web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)

    #Get Sub-Folders of the List
    $SubFolders = $List.RootFolder.Folders
    $Ctx.Load($SubFolders)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
    
    #Iterate through Each SubFolder
    ForEach($Folder in $SubFolders)
    {
        #Get the Folder's Server Relative URL
        Write-host $Folder.Name
    }
}
catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

Similarly, If you want to get all subfolders of a specific folder, use:

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

#Set Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$FolderRelativeURL = "/sites/marketing/Shared Documents/2018"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
Try {
    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.UserName,$Cred.Password)

    #Get Sub-Folders of a Folder
    $SubFolders = $Ctx.web.GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl($FolderRelativeURL).Folders
    $Ctx.Load($SubFolders)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
    
    #Iterate through Each SubFolder
    ForEach($Folder in $SubFolders)
    {
        #Get the Folder's Server Relative URL
        Write-host $Folder.Name
    }
}
catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

SharePoint Online: Get All Folders Recursively from a SharePoint Online List using PowerShell

Here is the PowerShell script to recursively get all folders from a SharePoint Online List or library.

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

#Function to Get Sub-folders of a Folder in SharePoint Online
Function Get-SPOFolders([Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Folder]$Folder)
{
    Try {         
        Write-host $Folder.ServerRelativeUrl
 
        #Process all Sub Folders
        $Ctx.Load($Folder.Folders)
        $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
 
        #Iterate through each sub-folder of the folder
        Foreach ($Folder in $Folder.Folders)
        {
            #Call the function recursively
            Get-SPOFolders $Folder
        }
    }
    Catch {
        write-host -f Red "Error Getting Folder!" $_.Exception.Message
    }
}

#Set Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$ListName = "Documents"

#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
Try {
    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.UserName,$Cred.Password)

    #Get the Root Folder of a List
    $List = $Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
    $RootFolder = $List.RootFolder
    $Ctx.Load($RootFolder)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
    
    #Call the Function to get all folders recursively from the list
    Get-SPOFolders $RootFolder
}
catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

PnP PowerShell to Get All Folders from a SharePoint Online Document Library

Here is how to get all folders (and subfolders) recursively from a SharePoint Online list or library:

#Config Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$ListName = "Branding"
  
Try {
    #Connect to PnP Online
    Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive
  
    #Get All Folders from the document Library
    $Folders = Get-PnPFolder -List $ListName
     
    Write-host "Total Number of Items in the Folder in the list:" $Folders.Count

    #Get Folder/Subfolder details
    $Folders | Select Name, TimeCreated, ItemCount, ServerRelativeUrl
}
catch {
    write-host "Error: $($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red
}

Let’s get all folders from a given document library and export them to a CSV file using PnP PowerShell.

#Parameters
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/legal"
$ListName = "Work"
$CSVPath = "C:\Temp\Folders.csv"
$FoldersInventory = @()

#Connect to Site
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive

#Get the List
$List =  Get-PnPList -Identity $ListName

#Get all Folders from List - with progress bar
$global:counter = 0;
$Folders = Get-PnPListItem -List $List -PageSize 500 -Fields FileLeafRef -ScriptBlock { Param($items) $global:counter += $items.Count; Write-Progress -PercentComplete ($global:Counter / ($List.ItemCount) * 100) -Activity "Getting Folders from List:" -Status "Processing Items $global:Counter to $($List.ItemCount)";}  | Where {$_.FileSystemObjectType -eq "Folder"}
  
#Iterate through all folders in the list
$Folders | ForEach-Object {
    #Collect Folder data
    $FoldersInventory += [PSCustomObject] @{
        FolderName = $_.FieldValues.FileLeafRef
        URL = $_.FieldValues.FileRef
    }   
}
$FoldersInventory
$FoldersInventory | Export-Csv -Path $CSVPath -NoTypeInformation

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two-decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. He has held various positions including SharePoint Architect, Administrator, Developer and consultant, has helped many organizations to implement and optimize SharePoint solutions. Known for his deep technical expertise, He's passionate about sharing the knowledge and insights to help others, through the real-world articles!

One thought on “SharePoint Online: Get All Folders from List or Library using PowerShell”

  • When doing this via the last script I get the following error “Error: The attempted operation is prohibited because it exceeds the list view threshold.” Is there a way to work around this? I just need the first level root level folders to be listed not iterate through those at root an all chilren folders.

    Reply

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