Expert Tips to Migrate Document Library to Another Site Seamlessly
Overview: The process to migrate Document Library to another site is a complex process if you don’t have the right set of expertise and tools. To make your overall experience a breeze, we have discussed an extensive guide for crucial data migration.
One of the consequential tasks of an organization is to migrate its sensitive and critical data from one platform to another. If there is no proper planning and technical expertise to carry out the operation, there may also be some negative consequences of this operation. Therefore, an expert suggestion is always a wise decision when taking such crucial steps.
While talking about such eventful situations, one such task that needs proper execution is migrating document libraries to another site. As these SharePoint libraries hold significant importance, the administrators should have a proper plan in place. Additionally, going with a trusted solution is a great choice as it makes the overall migration process simple.
Step by Step Process to Migrate Document Library to Another Site
As it is a complex process, we should divide it into multiple stages and perform it step by step. This strategy will help us perform the whole process without experiencing any major failures.
Step 1: Determine Migration Strategy
As you are about to start the process, it is important to first understand and define your strategy. Majorly, there are two ways to migrate document library from one site to another SharePoint Online – manual and automated solutions.
In the manual approach, the user has to export and import the data from document libraries. This process is feasible only if there are small document libraries and only a small number of files and folders. If there is a large amount of data, then going with a professional solution is a feasible option.
In the case of large-sized libraries, many experts recommend going with an automated solution. This is the best approach as it saves a lot of time and also makes batch migration possible.
Step 2: Take a Backup of Document Libraries
Before you start migrating your data, it is better to keep a backup copy of your data. The backup copy ensures that your data is safe if something goes wrong while moving document libraries to another site.
To back up your data, you can use SharePoint Online Management Shell. This tool will help you backup entire data and you can save that backup copy to a different location for safety purposes.
Step 3: Create a Destination Site
The next step while moving document library from one site to another SharePoint Online is to create a destination site where you want to migrate your data. If it is already created, then you can skip this step.
You can create a new site using the SharePoint Online admin center. The steps to create a new site are:
- Go to SharePoint admin center >> click on Sites button.
- Click on the Active Sites option and then click on Create button.
Step 4: Prepare Source Document Library
Another step that you should take before initiating the migration process is cleaning unnecessary stuff from document library. Deleting redundant files and folders will reduce the overall size of the document library. As a result, the migration process will take less time to complete and will be less complex.
Step 5: Start Migrating Document Library to Another Site
Once all the steps are done, now comes the time when you start moving your document library to another site. Here, the best option is to go with PCVITA SharePoint Online Migration Tool. This software will make your migration job effortless while ensuring that all your data and metadata are transferred.
Moreover, the software offers users to not only migrate Document Library but also permits users to transfer SharePoint lists as well. To enhance the overall experience, this utility supports batch migration of data that makes the process quick and efficient.
Upon successful migration, the application generates two types of reports: Detailed Report and Summary Report. These reports help users keep a record of data migration as they contain the success and failure count of data items.
You can run this application on Windows OS 11 and 10 (64-bit).
Step 6: Verify Migration
Once you have successfully migrated Document Library to another site, it is essential to verify the destination site. Here, you need to check if all the data items are migrated successfully and it is transferred in the desired way.
Step 7: Update Permissions
After verification, the final step is to update links and permissions in the destination document library. Here, you need to update links in the library to reflect its new location. Additionally, you have to ensure that users have appropriate permissions to access that library.
To update the links, search for the references to the document library on other sites and update the links showing in them.
For permission updates, go to the migrated Document library and assign required permissions to all the users and groups as per the need.
Useful Tips for a Flawless Document Library Migration to another Site
Although we have discussed an extensive step-by-step guide to migrating SharePoint Document Library from one site to another, there are still some useful tips that you must take a look at. These tips are specially designed by SharePoint experts that help administrators execute the migration process in an effortless manner.
- Planning the Migration: It is quite beneficial to be clear about what you need to migrate and what is unnecessary. Additionally, you should also be clear about the time it is going to take and the resources required for migration.
- Use a Reliable Migration Tool: To have an efficient migration process, many experts choose a trusted migration tool over native solutions. These tools ensure data migration while preserving metadata, permissions, and other essential properties.
- Test your Migration: By migrating document library to another site on a small scale before going with the full flow is a better decision. This practice helps determine any potential issues that might hamper the process and result in errors.
- Clean Document Library: When migrating your document library from one SharePoint site to another, it is recommended to clean up unused and outdated documents. This will reduce the amount of data to be migrated and hence result in a quick migration process.
- Manage Permissions: It is important to be clear about how the permissions will be handled during the process. If you use the aforementioned migration tool, then it will help you map source and destination permissions without any hassle. Or you can also create a new security group in the destination site and assign permissions to that group rather than assigning permissions to users individually.
- Monitor your Migration: Always keep an eye on the migration process and keep checking if every document library has moved successfully to the destination site. Also, test the documents and verify that the metadata and properties are intact on the new site.
- Communicate with End User: It is necessary to inform the end users about the migration of document library to another SharePoint site. You must educate them on how to access data on the new site and address their queries or concerns.
Conclusion
Migrating data across platforms is quite complex and can result in crucial data loss. Thus, a comprehensive guide for safe and secure migration is the need of the hour. Taking this into account, we have discussed a step-by-step process to migrate document library from one site to another in SharePoint Online. If you are also planning to perform the migration, just make sure that you plan, check for permissions, update metadata, test workflows and choose the best application for seamless migration.