Author Archives: Ian Hayse

About Ian Hayse

SharePoint Admin. SharePoint Guy. I have been working with SharePoint nonstop for the past nine years. In those nine years, I've done everything from 'normal' Admin work, development, migrations, training, planning, search, workflow, InfoPath, to crazy fixing of the hands-off SharePoint databases. I'm located in Austin, TX and can always help out with small projects.

Use PowerShell PNP to Create an Alphabet Directory of Folders in Sharepoint

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I’m in the process of reorganizing a document library and wanted to store all of the documents in alphabetical folders. Yes, I’m using metadata, but I’ve passed the magic 5,000 item threshold and want to rearrange the library and leverage a rich search experience.

So, using PowerShell, how do you create a bunch of folders going from A to Z?

$siteURL = "https://sharepointed.sharepoint.com/sites/parent/child"

$conn = Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteURL -Credentials (Get-Credential) -ReturnConnection

try{
(65..(65+25)).ForEach({     
$xy = [char]$_    
Add-PnPFolder -Name $xy -Folder "/mylibrary" -Connection $conn
})
}

catch{ Write-host -f Red "Error:" $_.Exception.Message}

More information about creating folders using ASCII:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-and-ascii-to-create-folders-with-letters/

SharePoint Online and Copied Metadata

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Out of the box, if you upload a document to SharePoint and tag metadata to it, that data is attached to the document properties. This is the case for most all column types you create in a library, and on random occasions, Document IDs are copied.

If you are working with SharePoint on-prem you can disable this functionality at the SPWeb level, but that’s not the case with SharePoint Online.

on-prem code example:
$web = $ctx.Web
$web.ParserEnabled=$false
$web.Update()

Example of what I was seeing in my sample library:
Create a new library titled DocLib
Added a text column titled TacoFiller
Uploaded an Excel file, then populate TacoFiller with the word Beans


Downloaded the file and look at the properties.
File –> Info –> All Properties (Excel o365)

Notice that property TacoFiller is set to Beans.

Create a local copy of the file, then upload it to DocLib.



SharePoint has read the TacoFiller property from the Excel file and applied the data to the column in the library.

Short of doing a document migration, I have NO idea why you’d want this enabled out of the box. If anything, this should be disabled, then allow admins to enable as needed. /rant

TL;DR / how-to disable this functionality:
First, you can only disable this at the library level! 

#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
Add-Type -Path "C:\Code\DLL\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"    
Add-Type -Path "C:\Code\DLL\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"    
     
#Config Parameters
$SiteURL= "https://YourSite.sharepoint.com/sites/spdev/testsite"
$ListName="DocLib"
   
#Get Credentials to connect
$Cred = Get-Credential
 
Try {
    #Setup the context
    $Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
    $Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($Cred.UserName,$Cred.Password)
     
    #get list sharepoint online powershell
    $List=$Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListName)
    $Ctx.Load($List)
    $Ctx.ExecuteQuery()    
 
    Write-host "Parser Disabled value " $List.ParserDisabled

    $List.ParserDisabled = $true
    $List.Update()
    $ctx.ExecuteQuery()

}
Catch {
    write-host -f Red "Error:" $_.Exception.Message
}

A couple of notes about the script.
You can download the SharePoint DLLs from Microsoft: link
In my tenant, using Get-Credential requires that I use my company email address and an App Password. This may/not be the case with your tenant. App Password info: link

And… after running the script, upload another copy of the Excel file to the library.


The TacoFiller property is no longer being extracted from the Excel file!

I’d like to thank Abhijit Rajurkar for helping with this!

Get and Set SharePoint Yes No Field Using Flow

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Simple question: Using a Flow condition, how do you check the value of a SharePoint Yes No field?

My first attempt was to set a variable equal to the SharePoint list value, then check the condition like this:



And, for good reason, this did not work.
My next attempt was to try replacing the condition value with true or false.



And, again, this did not work!
Sooo, what if I convert the true or false to a string?


It worked!



How do you set or update a SharePoint Yes No field using a Flow variable?


Create a string variable, then set the value to true or false.
SharePoint display values:
Yes = true
No = false


Get Files From a Folder Using PNP

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How do you get all of the files from a folder in SharePoint using PowerShell PNP?

  $devConn = Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://sharepointed.sharepoint.com/sites/siteA/siteB" -Credentials $userCredential -ReturnConnection

    $folderName = "/Shared Documents/myfolder/anotherfolder"

    $folderItems = Get-PnPFolderItem -FolderSiteRelativeUrl $folderName -Connection $devConn

    foreach($item in $folderItems)
    {
        Write-Host $item.Name
    }

    Write-Host "done"

You could also use a search query with a path filter to get the files, just depends on your needs.

Example of using the Get-PnPListItem cmdlet with the FolderServerRelativeUrl parameter. 

$devConn = Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://sharepointed.sharepoint.com/sites/siteA/siteB" -Credentials $userCredential -ReturnConnection

    $folderName = "/sites/spdev2/bw2/Shared Documents/myfolder/anotherfolder"

    $folderItems = Get-PnPListItem -List "Shared Documents" -FolderServerRelativeUrl $folderName -Connection $devConn 

    foreach($item in $folderItems)
    {
        Write-Host $item
    }

Flow Trigger On SharePoint Item Version

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How do you run a Flow on a specific version SharePoint item version?

Create a Flow, then navigate into the Settings of the first step. Scroll down to Trigger Conditions and enter the following:

@equals(float(triggerBody()?['{VersionNumber}']),1.0)

Save the Flow and run a test.
The Flow should only process items / documents where the version is equal to 1.0.

Flow Variables Not Displaying In The Dynamic Content Menu

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I was trying to dynamically set a SharePoint list item ID to a variable but the variable was not displaying in the Dynamic Content menu.

The solution was to use an expression to set the value, save the flow, exit the edit screen, then re-enter the edit screen.

variables('varRefID')
Create a variable
Notice the variable is not available for selection
Use the expression window to enter the variable name
The variable has been added but looks weird. This is not an issue but continue reading if you want to clean display value.
Save your flow and exit the edit screen.
Edit your flow
The variable is now displayed correctly!

PowerAutomate SharePoint Server relative urls must start with SPWeb.ServerRelativeUrl

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{
    "inputs": {
        "variables": [
            {
                "name": "varURI-String",
                "type": "string",
                "value": "/_api/web/GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl('@{triggerBody()?['FolderPath']}')/ListItemAllFields/breakroleinheritance(copyRoleAssignments=false, clearSubscopes=true)"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Using a Power Automate Flow to break inheritance on a folder and this error was being returned. The issue turned out to be the path I was trying to use for the folder.

This did not work: LibraryName/Folder
This DID work: /sites/ParentSite/SubSite/LibraryName/Folder’

Copy Files From Azure File Storage to SharePoint

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As of today, there is not a Logic App trigger for Azure File Storage, so I went with a schedule-based approach. Yes, this example leaves out a lot of fine-tuning, but it will get you headed in the right direction.

Create a blank Logic app
Trigger: Schedule
Action: Azure File Storage – List files
Action: SharePoint – Create file

After you add the SharePoint action, the Logic App should automatically add a For Each action and place the SharePoint Create File action inside of it.

Overview of the Logic App
For each action expanded
Testing the Logic App

In the last screenshot, I tested the Logic App by uploading a couple of documents in Azure Storage Explorer, then I manually ran the Logic App (click the Run button).

Again, this is a simple example. The example does not account for processing the same files over and over…

SharePoint Search Query Tool Login

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If you have ever worked with SharePoint search you likely already know about the SharePoint Search Query Tool. If you are new to SharePoint and need a little insight into the SharePoint search experience this tool is a lifesaver!

SharePoint Query Tool GitHub: https://github.com/pnp/PnP-Tools/

In future posts, I will outline how to form queries and use the tool but for now, I want to simply connect to my SharePoint Online site.

Enter the URL for your SharePoint site, select the Authentication options shown above, then click Sign-In. If a web login form appears be sure to complete it. If your normal Windows login doesn’t work, try using your work email address and password, and if that doesn’t work try your work email address and App Password.

App Passwords are created and managed at this URL: https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/AppPasswords.aspx