Move Files of SharePoint Document Library using Object Model

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Introduction

In this post we will see how to move files of SharePoint document library to one location to another using object model.
We will also see how to keep same file Version, Modified and ModifiedBy values after moving
The post includes

Generic method to move file to destination
Keeping the file version, Modified and Modified By without any change

Skill Level – Medium

Move file

		
	string siteUrl = "http://sharepoint-devsite.com/DevSite";
	string fileName = "ProjectPlan.docx";
	string sourceDirectory = "/DevSite/Shared Documents";
	string destinationDirectory  = "/DevSite/ProjectDocs/ProjTeam/DevTeam/TechLead";
	using (SPSite currSite = new SPSite(siteUrl))
	{
		using (SPWeb currWeb = currSite.OpenWeb())
		{
			MoveFile(currWeb, destinationDirectory, sourceDirectory, fileName);
		}
	}

	public void MoveFile(SPWeb sourceWeb, string sourceDirectory, string destinationDirectory, string fileName)
	{
		SPFile sourcefile = sourceWeb.GetFile(sourceDirectory + "/" + fileName);
		if (sourcefile.Exists)
		{
			object modifiedOn = sourcefile.Item["Modified"];
			object modifiedBy = sourcefile.Item["Modified By"];
			
			//true - replace if file exists
			sourcefile.MoveTo(destinationDirectory + "/" + fileName, true);   

			SPFile dstFile = sourceWeb.GetFile(destinationDirectory + "/" + fileName);
			SPListItem dstItem = (SPListItem)dstFile.Item;
			dstItem.ParentList.Fields["Modified"].ReadOnlyField = false;
			dstItem.ParentList.Fields["Modified By"].ReadOnlyField = false;
			dstItem["Modified"] = modifiedOn;
			dstItem["Modified By"] = modifiedBy;
			//updates the item without creating another version of the item
			dstItem.UpdateOverwriteVersion(); 
			dstItem.ParentList.Fields["Modified"].ReadOnlyField = true;
			dstItem.ParentList.Fields["Modified By"].ReadOnlyField = true;
		}
	   
	}

MoveFile is the method which moves the file to destination without changing ‘Modified’ and ‘Modified By’ values.

Remarks

Moving files from UI can be done through ‘Content and structure’ under SiteAdministration (siteurl/_Layouts/sitemanager.aspx will give us Content and structure).
The above code for Moving files will be working only if source and destination are in same site collection. Content and structure from UI also does not provide this option. If destination is located in other site collection or web application, there is no move option. The file should be created in the destination and delete from source to resemble move operation. Also version should be kept in mind.

Conclusion

If we have multiple files and multiple locations and we tend to write code rather than doing from Content and structure. Hope this code helps when required.

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