What options do I have to change the structure and move modern pages

Question

In my experience, the structure cannot be changed in SharePoint. However, I do need a modifiable construct of libraries and subsites for use in my company.

Moving documents is easy with a built-in function that I can access via a button, or via the Windows File Explorer. Unfortunately this is not possible with modern pages or page libraries.

My requirements are the following:

• I want to move entire libraries within a site collection to other subsites.
• I would also like to have the ability to move a single or multiple modern site pages to other site libraries at the same time.

Are there any hidden possibilities out of the box?

There are many third party migration tools out there, but they are all too expensive for me. (For example, ShareGate costs over 4000 dollars). Also, they can do a lot that I don't need.

Do you know of any ways I could implement my requirements?

Answer 1

After a few set of tests, I think I finally found out the problem.

I will document what I've found and in the end you'll find the actual solution.

There's always the chance that there are other variables in your scenario, but I hope this will help in some way.

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The problem

Currently there is a sort of a built-in security mechanism in which certain files and file content are being blocked, to prevent harmful code execution.

File types such as .aspx are blocked by the api, meaning you cannot create your own or upload your own files, even copying from other sites won't work while this mechanism is enabled.

Some examples:

SharePoint Designer, renaming .txt to .aspx

File Explorer, renaming .txt to .aspx

The same will happen if we do any file creation, copying or moving through the api (401 unauthorized).

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The solution

There are 2 settings that prevent script files and script content:

• Admin center (https://[YOUR_URL]-admin.sharepoint.com) > classic settings page > custom script
• DenyAddAndCustomizePages property (SharePoint Online Management Shell)

You'll need to disable at least DenyAddAndCustomizePages, which will automatically stop blocking your .aspx files.

I happen to have a gist here, even though it's a one liner to set it up:

https://gist.github.com/tiagoduarte/4e5e40bd19c29ed7d16e5412445f09e3

With the blocking problem out of the way, you can chose your flavor:

• Use file explorer / manual reorganization
• Code it in a method of choice

Here's a working example:

Console.WriteLine("Copying pages...");

ClientContext context = GetContext(webUrl);
Web web = context.Web;
List sourceList = web.Lists.GetByTitle("Site Pages");
ListItem sourceItem = sourceList.GetItemById(3);
context.Load(sourceItem);
context.Load(sourceItem.File);
context.Load(web.Webs);
context.ExecuteQuery();

Web subWeb = web.Webs[0];
List destList = subWeb.Lists.GetByTitle("Site Pages");
context.Load(destList);
context.Load(destList.RootFolder);
context.ExecuteQuery();

string newFileUrl = destList.RootFolder.ServerRelativeUrl + "/" + sourceItem.File.Name;

Console.WriteLine("Copying " + sourceItem.File.ServerRelativeUrl + " to " + newFileUrl);

FileInformation fileInfo = Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.File.OpenBinaryDirect(context, sourceItem.File.ServerRelativeUrl);
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.File.SaveBinaryDirect(context, newFileUrl, fileInfo.Stream, true);
context.ExecuteQuery();

**

Sources

Types of files that cannot be added to a list or library

Access denied when uploading page to SitePages library in SharePoint Online

Enable-SPDesigner.ps1

SharePoint Online Management Shell

TL;DR

Disable DenyAddAndCustomizePages property of the SPOSite object