SharePoint Online: Upload a Folder using PowerShell
Requirement: Upload a Folder to SharePoint Online using PowerShell.
How to upload a Folder to SharePoint Online Document Library?
You can upload a folder and its contents to SharePoint either using the web browser – upload button in the toolbar or by dragging and dropping the folder onto the library from Windows Explorer. Here is how to upload a folder with its sub-folders and files to a SharePoint Online document library:
- Navigate to your SharePoint Online library >> Click on “Upload” from the toolbar, and choose the “Folder” option. You’ll get a Browse dialog box to select a folder from your computer.
- Select a folder to copy that entire folder to the SharePoint Online library.
This will upload the folder and its contents from the local computer to SharePoint Online. Please note that the upload folder option doesn’t work in IE 11. (it works in Edge, Google Chrome, and Firefox browsers!). You can also upload a folder with files and sub-folders to SharePoint Online modern libraries, just by Drag and Drop! Users must have contribute or more permissions, BTW!
PowerShell to upload a Folder to SharePoint Online (Including Folder, Sub-Folders, and Files):
We can also use PowerShell to copy a folder to SharePoint Online from the local disk. This script will be helpful for users who would like to upload folders of data from their personal computers into Sharepoint Online using PowerShell. The process can take some time, depending on the size of your files and internet connection speed. Let’s upload a folder to SharePoint Online using PowerShell. Here is my source:
Components SDK in your machine to use client-side assemblies. You can download it from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42038
PowerShell is a powerful tool for those looking to automate tedious tasks on the Microsoft platform. This article will cover uploading a folder from your local computer onto Sharepoint Online using PowerShell commands. While it’s possible to do this via the SharePoint web interface, using PowerShell for automation scenarios can be more convenient. Here is how to upload a Folder to SharePoint Online Document Library using PowerShell:
#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 Check if Folder Exists. If not, Create the Folder
Function Ensure-SPOFolder()
{
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $FolderRelativeURL
)
#Check Folder Exists
Try {
$Folder = $Web.GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl($FolderRelativeURL)
$Ctx.Load($Folder)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Write-host -f Green "Folder Already Exists!"
}
Catch {
#Create New Sub-Folder
$Folder=$Web.Folders.Add($FolderRelativeURL)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
Write-host -f Green "Created Folder at "$FolderRelativeURL
}
}
#Function to Upload a File to a SharePoint Online
Function Upload-SPOFile()
{
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $SourceFilePath,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $TargetFileURL
)
#Get the file from disk
$FileStream = ([System.IO.FileInfo] (Get-Item $SourceFilePath)).OpenRead()
#Get File Name from source file path - Frame FileNames
$SourceFileName = Split-path $SourceFilePath -leaf
#Add File to SharePoint Library
$FileCreationInfo = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FileCreationInformation
$FileCreationInfo.Overwrite = $true
$FileCreationInfo.ContentStream = $FileStream
$FileCreationInfo.URL = $TargetFileURL
$FileUploaded = $TargetFolder.Files.Add($FileCreationInfo)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Close file stream
$FileStream.Close()
Write-host "File '$TargetFileURL' Uploaded Successfully!" -ForegroundColor Green
}
#Main Function to upload a Local Folder to SharePoint Online Document Library Folder
Function Upload-SPOFolder()
{
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $SourceFolderPath,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Folder] $TargetFolder
)
#Get All Files and Sub-Folders from Source
Get-ChildItem $SourceFolderPath -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
If ($_.PSIsContainer -eq $True)
{
$FolderRelativeURL = $TargetFolder.ServerRelativeURL+$_.FullName.Replace($SourceFolderPath,[string]::Empty).Replace("\","/")
If($FolderRelativeURL)
{
Write-host -f Yellow "Ensuring Folder '$FolderRelativeURL' Exists..."
Ensure-SPOFolder -FolderRelativeURL $FolderRelativeURL
}
}
Else
{
$FolderRelativeUrl = $TargetFolder.ServerRelativeURL + $_.DirectoryName.Replace($SourceFolderPath,[string]::Empty).Replace("\","/")
$FileRelativeURL = $FolderRelativeUrl+"/"+$_.Name
Write-host -f Yellow "Uploading File '$_' to URL "$FileRelativeURL
Upload-SPOFile -SourceFilePath $_.FullName -TargetFileURL $FileRelativeURL
}
}
}
#Set parameter values
$SiteURL="https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing"
$LibraryName="Documents" #Document Library Name
$SourceFolderPath="C:\Users\salaudeen\Desktop\Marketing\Documents"
#Setup Credentials to connect
$Cred= Get-Credential
$Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.Username, $Cred.Password)
#Setup the context
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = $Credentials
#Get the Target Folder to Upload
$Web = $Ctx.Web
$Ctx.Load($Web)
$List = $Web.Lists.GetByTitle($LibraryName)
$Ctx.Load($List)
$Ctx.Load($List.RootFolder)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
#Call the function to Upload All files & folders from local folder to SharePoint Online Doclibrary
Upload-SPOFolder -SourceFolderPath $SourceFolderPath -TargetFolder $List.RootFolder
This PowerShell uploads the given folder, sub-folder, and files to SharePoint Online.
Upload a Folder to SharePoint Online using PnP PowerShell
To upload a folder to the SharePoint Online document library, use the below PnP PowerShell script! Set the Site URL and other parameters according to your tenant.
#Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/retail"
$FolderLocalPath = "C:\Temp\Docs"
$TargetFolder = "Shared Documents/Docs"
#Connect with SharePoint Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive
#Get All files from the local disk
$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $FolderLocalPath -File
#Ensure the target folder
Resolve-PnPFolder -SiteRelativePath $TargetFolder | Out-Null
#Upload All files from the local folder to SharePoint Online Folder
ForEach ($File in $Files)
{
Add-PnPFile -Path "$($File.Directory)\$($File.Name)" -Folder $TargetFolder -Values @{"Title" = $($File.Name)} | Out-Null
Write-host "Uploaded File:"$File.FullName
}
The above PowerShell script uploads all files from the given local folder to SharePoint Online. What if the local folder has sub-folders and files? How do I upload files and folders to SharePoint Online? Well, Here is the PnP PowerShell script that uploads a folder with its subfolders and files:
#Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/retail"
$LocalFolderPath = "C:\Temp\Docs"
$TargetFolderURL = "Shared Documents" #Site Relative URL
#Connect with SharePoint Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive
#Function to upload all files from a local folder to SharePoint Online Folder
Function Upload-PnPFolder($LocalFolderPath, $TargetFolderURL)
{
Write-host "Processing Folder:"$LocalFolderPath -f Yellow
#Get All files and SubFolders from the local disk
$Files = Get-ChildItem -Path $LocalFolderPath -File
#Ensure the target folder
Resolve-PnPFolder -SiteRelativePath $TargetFolderURL | Out-Null
#Upload All files from the local folder to SharePoint Online Folder
ForEach ($File in $Files)
{
Add-PnPFile -Path "$($File.Directory)\$($File.Name)" -Folder $TargetFolderURL -Values @{"Title" = $($File.Name)} | Out-Null
Write-host "`tUploaded File:"$File.FullName -f Green
}
}
#Call the function to upload the Root Folder
Upload-PnPFolder -LocalFolderPath $LocalFolderPath -TargetFolderURL $TargetFolderURL
#Get all Folders from given source path
Get-ChildItem -Path $LocalFolderPath -Recurse -Directory | ForEach-Object {
$FolderToUpload = ($TargetFolderURL+$_.FullName.Replace($LocalFolderPath,[string]::Empty)).Replace("\","/")
Upload-PnPFolder -LocalFolderPath $_.FullName -TargetFolderURL $FolderToUpload
}
This script works for OneDrive as well! Just set the variable Site URL to the OneDrive site, and Target Folder URL to “Documents”.
If you want to upload just the folder structure (without files) to the SharePoint document library, use: Upload folder structure to SharePoint Online
To upload a file to SharePoint Online, navigate to your SharePoint Online document library >> Click on the “Upload” button from the toolbar >> Select the “Files” menu item. Browse and select the file(s) to upload. You can also use the CSOM scripts or PnP PowerShell cmdlet Add-PnPFile to upload a file to SharePoint Online.
More info: PowerShell script to upload files to SharePoint Online
You can simply drag and drop them to the SharePoint Online document library to start uploading. File Explorer also helps. To upload files to SharePoint Online in bulk, You can use this PowerShell script too: Bulk upload files to SharePoint Online using PowerShell
Although the maximum file upload size for SharePoint Online is 250 GB, It may fail due to network bandwidth, Timeout issues! To resolve the issue, Use the OneDrive sync client or PowerShell script that splits the large files and uploads them in chunks. If you want to upload large files with PowerShell, use How to Upload Larger Files to SharePoint Online using PowerShell?
Thanks for the script. Is there any way to skip existing files coping back to sharepoint library?
MISSING ONE SYNTEX:
Ok stumbled on your site a while ago and love it
OBJECTIVE:
Upload File and Folders to o365 Sharepoint
Everythign works except I can not figure out how to tell it to skip exsisting files
any thoughts
Everythink works perfectly! There is a way to preserve date/time stamp?
It’s possibile to preserve date/time of file? When i upload it change the last edited time to the time of the upload
Sure! Refer: How to Migrate File Share to SharePoint Online using PowerShell?
Hi Salaudeen, great work. I have just extracted some data from the content Management system and would like to upload the data to SharePoint Online. There are about 7o documents with a mix of .docx, .xlsx, .pdf, .eml and others. the documents were extracted separately into a LAN share while the metadata were extracted as different rows in a CSV file. The csv file contains a column that uniquely identify each of the document. I am looking for a Poweshell script that con upload these documents to SharePoint online along with the related metadata from the csv file. Kindly help
HI Salaudeen.
I couldn’t make it work either, please help us!!!
Thanks so much for sharing this script. I’d be interested in a version that prompts for user credentials, as this would be most handy!
Do you mean, script to *Not* prompt for credentials? You can Hard-code your credentials, use an encrypted password file, or use AppID and AppSecret methods.
Hello Sir,
I need help. I am working on one utility where I want to copy folder from local machine to Sharepoint online. This utility will be run by all users in our company, so whichever user will run the utility folder from his local machine should get copied to sharepoint. Can i use your script to achieve the same ? You have mentioned prerequisites of installing SharePoint online client SDK, do I need to install this SDK on all users machine before using this tool ?
PowerShell can help, but Why don’t you use OneDrive sync client?
What would we need to add to the script in order for it to delete the source file after successful upload to Sharepoint?
Also, this only seems to work to the root of a document library. What do we need to do to point it at a sub folder? (for example – right now this works perfectly –> https://mysharepointsite.sharepoint.com/sites/MyTeamSite/TestDocLibrary….. But how do I upload to this target –> https://mysharepointsite.sharepoint.com/sites/MyTeamSite/TestDocLibrary/SubFolder1/SubFolder2???)
How would i get the code to Skip a Folder? i have tried to add a | Where {$_.name -NotLike “*Archives*”}
to a few lines but it produces an error. (it still uploads) but searches every sub folder taking a LONG time to upload the files.
Thank you so much. Saved me a ton of time and your script worked perfectly.
You saved me!
But, there is an interesting task:
How to Upload a Folders to SharePoint Online SubFolder using PowerShell (Url = “https://test.sharepoint.com/Sites/Libary/Folder/SubFolder”)?
Thank you for your time and effort in advance!
Sure, Use this script to get the sub folder:
Thank you!
But, I still get an error. If you can and have time, check please:
#Set parameter values $SiteURL="https://test.sharepoint.com/teams/Ukraine/" #$LibraryName="TempBackup" $FolderServerRelativeUrl="/Ukraine/TempBackup/ADVANCE/APPROVED/" $SourceFolderPath="D:\Files\public\ADVANCEFORMULARS" $Username = "logon_name" $Password = Get-Content "password_path.txt" | ConvertTo-SecureString #Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll" Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll" #Setup Credentials to connect $Creds = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Username, $Password) $Credentials = $Creds #Setup the context $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL) $Ctx.Credentials = $Credentials #Function to Check if Folder Exists. If not, Create the Folder Function Ensure-SPOFolder() { param ( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $FolderServerRelativeURL ) #Check Folder Exists Try { $Folder = $SPWeb.GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl($FolderServerRelativeURL) $Ctx.Load($Folder) $Ctx.ExecuteQuery() #Write-host -f Green "Folder Already Exists!" } Catch { #Create New Sub-Folder $Folder=$SPWeb.Folders.Add($FolderServerRelativeURL) $Ctx.ExecuteQuery() Write-host -f Green "Created Folder at "$FolderServerRelativeURL } } #Function to Upload a File to a SharePoint Online Function Upload-SPOFile() { param ( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $SourceFilePath, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $TargetFileURL ) #Get the file from disk $FileStream = ([System.IO.FileInfo] (Get-Item $SourceFilePath)).OpenRead() #Get File Name from source file path $SourceFileName = Split-path $SourceFilePath -leaf #Upload the File to SharePoint Library $FileCreationInfo = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FileCreationInformation $FileCreationInfo.Overwrite = $true $FileCreationInfo.ContentStream = $FileStream $FileCreationInfo.URL = $TargetFileURL $FileUploaded = $TargetFolder.Files.Add($FileCreationInfo) $Ctx.ExecuteQuery() #Close file stream $FileStream.Close() Write-host "File '$TargetFileURL' Uploaded Successfully!" -ForegroundColor Green } #Main Function to upload a Local Folder to SharePoint Online Document Library Folder Function Upload-SPOFolder() { param ( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $SourceFolderPath, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Folder] $TargetFolder ) #Get All Files and Sub-Folders from Source Get-ChildItem $SourceFolderPath -Recurse | ForEach-Object { If ($_.PSIsContainer -eq $True) { $FolderServerRelativeURL = $TargetFolder.ServerRelativeURL+$_.FullName.Replace($SourceFolderPath,"").Replace("","/") If($FolderServerRelativeURL) { Write-host -f Yellow "Ensuring Folder '$FolderServerRelativeURL' Exists..." Ensure-SPOFolder -FolderServerRelativeURL $FolderServerRelativeURL } } Else { $FolderServerRelativeUrl = $TargetFolder.ServerRelativeURL + $_.DirectoryName.Replace($SourceFolderPath,"").Replace("","/") $FileRelativeURL = $FolderServerRelativeUrl+"/"+$_.Name Write-host -f Yellow "Uploading File '$_' to URL "$FileRelativeURL Upload-SPOFile -SourceFilePath $_.FullName -TargetFileURL $FileRelativeURL } } } #Get the Target Folder to Upload $Web = $Ctx.Web $Ctx.Load($Web) $List = $Web.Lists.GetByTitle($FolderServerRelativeUrl) $Ctx.Load($List) $Ctx.Load($List.RootFolder) $Ctx.ExecuteQuery() #Call the function to Upload All files and folders from local folder to SharePoint Online Upload-SPOFolder -SourceFolderPath $SourceFolderPath -TargetFolder $List.RootFolder