SharePoint 2019 - Self Migration Guide - Lists

OVERVIEW

This article describes how to self-migrate your Lists from your SharePoint 2019 site to another tool.

 

Known Limitations

Lists can be self-migrated by using Excel Spreadsheets. Please note the following restrictions:

  1. Some List Column Types doesn't exist in SharePoint Online and will require re-assigning to another type. These Column Types include:
    • Rating Scale (a matrix of choices or a Likert scale)
    • Page Separator (inserts a page break into your survey)
    • Full HTML content with formatting and constraints for publishing
    • Image with formatting and constraints for publishing
    • Hyperlink with formatting and constraints for publishing
    • Summary Links data
    • Rich media data for publishing
  2. There's no way to 'directly download' the List as a file to be then uploaded in another location. Lists can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet, then using that Excel file, import it into SharePoint Online as a List.
  3. When exporting a List into Excel, some Column Types may revert to a generic type. For example, a column with "Time/Date" type becomes "Numerical" when the List is exported. You will need to re-assign the correct Column Type when importing into SharePoint Online as a new List.
  4. When exporting a List into Excel, there is a maximum character limit of 32,000 for each cell. After which, any remaining content is not saved on that specific cell.
  5. Displaying 12 or more columns of the following types can cause a list view threshold error: people, lookup, and managed metadata. Other column types are not impacted.

 

Export Your Lists

To export your List to an Excel spreadsheet:

  1. On a browser, visit your SharePoint 2019 site and navigate to the list.
  2. Select List from the tabs, then Export to Excel

     
  3. You will download a query.iqy item. Open this item.

     
  4. Excel will open. Select Enable.

     
  5. On some computers, you may encounter this error. Select Open Trust Center.

     
  6. Select Ask me what to do for each host, then close Excel.

     
  7. Re-open the query.iqy item.
  8. Select Yes.

     
  9. You will be asked to log into SFU CAS. If you encounter this error, select Yes. If this error reappears, continue to select Yes. This is caused by Microsoft's sign-in engine using a built-in version of Internet Explorer that doesn't handle modern scripts.

     
  10. Complete the sign-in process to your SFU account.


     
  11. Excel should open with content from your List. Save this new spreadsheet.

     

 

Import Your Lists

To import your List into a SharePoint Online site:

  1. On a browser, visit your SharePoint Online site.
  2. From the Home page, select +New > List.

     
  3. Select From Excel.

     
  4. Select Upload file, then find and open the Excel spreadsheet you've exported.

     
  5. Adjust your column types if needed. Then, select Next.

     
  6. Make any adjustments to your new list. Then, select Create.

     
  7. Confirm that your new list has been fully created.

 

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