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I am working on a communication modern SharePoint site. and seems these modern sites, do not allow us to save the list as template. as i want to save our list as template and re-create it inside another site. so can anyone advice if there is a PnP script to do this task without having to allow custom script on the modern site or enable any feature?. as i do not want to modify the source site, either by enabling any features or allowing custom scripts.

Thanks

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3 Answers 3

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The best recommended approach is use the PnP Provisioning template.

  • Download the PnP Provisioning template using PnP

  • Filter the downloaded template (xml) because there is no way to generate only the specific list template, by default it will download all lists/libraries from the specific site.

  • Then create a new list using the filtered PnP template.

Sample code to get specif list from SharePoint Online for PnP Provisioning template:

$listName = "List Title for which want to generate template";
$outputTemplateFileName = "C:\Temp\PnP\SPListPnPProvisioning\ListTemplateDownloaded.xml";
$templates = Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate -OutputInstance -Handlers Lists
$singleListTemplate = $templates.Lists | Where-Object { $_.Title -eq $listName }
$templates.Lists.Clear()
$templates.Lists.Add($singleListTemplate)
Save-PnPProvisioningTemplate -InputInstance $templates -Out $outputTemplateFileName;

Write-host "Successfully PnP list template has been customized for a single list."

How to create a new list in the target site using the downloaded PnP template:

CLS
$userName = "[email protected]"
$passWord = "YourSPOPassword"
$encPassWord = convertto-securestring -String $passWord -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $userName, $encPassWord

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://globalsharepoint2019.sharepoint.com/sites/SharePointRNDClassic" -Credentials $cred

Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Path "C:\Temp\PnP\SPListPnPProvisioning\ListTemplate.xml"

Write-host "Successfully a list has been created in SharePoint online."

Demo Example:

Create list using PnP Provisioning template

Please read the below article where step by step it is explained how to do with the video demo:

Create SharePoint online list using PnP provisioning template

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  • You can specify which list(s) to include... see my answer above :-)
    – Rune Sperre
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 12:38
  • @SP Expert i tried the Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Handlers Lists -ListsToExtract <GUID or Title> -Out .\template.xml and Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Path .\template.xml..but on the second command i got this exception Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate : Referenced content type 0x01***58 not available in site or in template now our list contain a custom content type, so could this be the reason?
    – John John
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 14:31
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    @SharePointTestDev - In my demo I have not used ListsToExtract <GUID or Title> parameter, I have used -Handlers Lists, this will give everything all lists, libraries and content types etc...using the demo approach we can filter this to fit our specific requirement....try to exclude the ListsToExtract <GUID or Title> parameter and see the result - how it works. :-)
    – SP 2022
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 15:46
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    @RuneSperre - Thanks for letting us know about the -ListsToExtract <GUID or Title> parameter, when I have explored about this it was not known to me, however, still I am not sure how does it work - I think it gives .pnp file rather the xml file as per the below MSDN command: Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Out template.pnp -ListsToExtract "Title of List One","95c4efd6-08f4-4c67-94ae-49d696ba1298","Title of List Three"
    – SP 2022
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 15:52
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    @RuneSperre oohk, thanks mate :-)
    – SP 2022
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 15:58
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You can use Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate to export a list as a template and then recreate the list on another site using Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate.

To export just a specific list you would use the following syntax:

Connect-PnPOnline -Url https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/comsite
Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Handlers Lists -ListsToExtract <GUID or Title> -Out .\template.xml

To include fields and content types, modify -Handlers to: 

-Handlers Lists, Fields, ContentTypes

The file template.xml can then be applied to another site using:

Connect-PnPOnline -Url https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/anothersite
Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate -Path .\template.xml
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  • so the -out and -path will be a location inside my PC?
    – John John
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 13:57
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    Correct. In my example i used .\filename.xml which would be the current directory
    – Rune Sperre
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 13:58
  • and will this command by any mean affect the source list? i do not think so? is this correct?
    – John John
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 14:23
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    i tried your appraoch , but on the Apply i for this expectation Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate : Referenced content type 0x01***58 not available in site or in template now our list contain a custom content type, so could this be the reason?
    – John John
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 14:30
  • It will not modify the source at all. To include handlers, you will need to include that as well in the handlers parameter. I will update the answer on how to do that.
    – Rune Sperre
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 14:50
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You might also want to consider using a Site Design for this, especially if you want it to be repeatable easily - and to let site owners manage things themselves. You can use a Site Design at site provisioning time or at a later point to instantiate specific artifacts, like Content Types, lists/libraries, etc.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/declarative-customization/site-design-overview

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