Walkthrough - Copy content only

Copy content only allows you to migrate content to the desired destination. You can copy documents, list items, folders, and document sets in SharePoint or Microsoft 365.

Tip: You can only migrate content one list or library at a time in the migration tool. This is because content-only migrations rely on your source and destination list or library structure. To copy the content of many lists and libraries, we recommend using Copy structure and content or PowerShell with a foreach loop.

Index

• Prerequisites
• How-to
  • Migrate to a destination that contains workflows

Prerequisites

• You have site collection admin permissions on your source and destination lists or libraries.
• You have term store admin permissions on your source and destination if you have managed metadata (Terms, Term sets, Term set groups) in your migration scope.

Note: Site collection admin permissions are required even if you have higher admin privileges like SharePoint admin or global admin permissions. For more information, see Microsoft administrative permissions.

How-to

1. Select Copy from the menu.
2. Select Copy content only.
3. Add your source credentials.
4. Click Connect.
5. Select your source site, then select the list or library you would like to copy the content from.
   Note: When you select a library at the source, lists will become unavailable at the destination, and libraries will become unavailable if you select a list.
6. Click Next.
7. Add your destination credentials.
8. Click Connect.
9. Select your destination site and the list or library to which you would like to copy the content.
10. Click Next.
11. Select the content you would like to copy from the source. You can copy any folders, files, and list items from your list or library.
    • To migrate everything in your source view, including items added after you set up your migration when it launches, select Include all source items in the migration screen.
12. Click Options and Mappings on the top-right to apply specific parameters. 
13. Drag and drop the content into the destination, or click Start copy on the bottom-right corner. 

Once the action is completed, the migration report will show any successes, warnings, or errors. For more information, see Migration report.

Migrate to a destination that contains workflows

If the destination list or library has any workflows enabled, we strongly suggest disabling them before your migration to prevent all workflows from being triggered during migration. You can re-enable them once the migration is complete.