SharePoint's built-in Copy To and Move To features are convenient, but they're notoriously unreliable for larger jobs.
Administrators frequently report that Copy To times out, Move To crashes, or stops part-way through with no clear indication of what completed. If the browser closes or loses connectivity, the operation can fail silently and leave you with a partial result.
Why SharePoint Copy To / Move To is error-prone
Built-in SharePoint Copy / Move
- Times out on large folders or deep structures
- Crashes if the browser closes, refreshes, or loses connectivity
- Leaves content partially copied or moved
- No resumability or recovery
- Hard to audit what succeeded vs failed
- Hard 100GB limit
- Fails files with "We're having trouble with SharePoint storage" and offers no way round it
- Fails files whose new path is over 400 characters, with no list up front of which ones will
- Leaves nothing at the old location, so people who look there find an empty folder
ShareMaster Copy To / Move To
- Runs outside the browser - avoids browser timeouts
- Executes in small, controlled chunks
- Uses a human-readable CSV plan (auditable, resumable)
- Recoverable after crashes, restarts, or internet drops
- No 100GB limit - designed for very large moves
- Slightly slower, but far more reliable
- Gets files SharePoint refuses to move to the destination anyway, with their dates and authors (see how)
- Checks every landing path against the 400-character limit before anything moves, and lets you re-path a file that is too long (see how)
- Can leave a .url link where each moved file used to be, opening it at its new location (see how)
In practice many admins find that SharePoint Copy To crashes or times out far below documented limits, especially with thousands of files, nested folders, or large libraries. If a native job has already stalled, see why SharePoint Move To gets stuck and how to recover it.
How ShareMaster avoids timeouts
1. Create a migration plan
ShareMaster first generates a CSV migration plan listing every file and folder. You get visibility before execution - something SharePoint's UI does not provide.
2. Move and copy in small chunks
Instead of attempting one massive Copy To operation that can time out or crash, ShareMaster processes items in small batches using the SharePoint Copy API.
3. Resume safely if interrupted
If the machine restarts, the app closes, or connectivity drops, the job can continue without starting over or duplicating data.
Move to errors SharePoint gives you, and how ShareMaster handles them
These messages come from SharePoint's own copy and move service. That means you get the same text in the browser's Move to panel as in any tool that uses the same API. The browser shows you the error and stops there. ShareMaster works out what the error actually means and deals with it for you.
SharePoint won't take this file's version history - SharePoint said: We're having trouble with SharePoint storage.
The difference is what happens next. SharePoint's Move to fails the file, leaves it at the source, and gives you nothing to try apart from starting again, which fails the same way. ShareMaster keeps the rest of the move going and tries the file once more. If SharePoint still refuses, it asks you once, at the end, how to get those files across. They arrive with their original dates and, wherever the account still exists, their original authors.| What SharePoint says | What it actually means | What ShareMaster does |
|---|---|---|
| "We're having trouble with SharePoint storage." "A later version of this item has already been modified. Other users can not edit the item until that version is approved or published." "Save Conflict. Your changes conflict with those made concurrently by another user." |
These three look unrelated, but they are one problem: SharePoint would not write this file's version history into the destination library. Your storage is fine. The same file can show all three messages on different attempts. | Tries the file again a minute later, because some go through on the second try. It carries on with everything else meanwhile. At the end it asks you once, for all of those files: copy them and recycle the originals, copy them and keep the originals, try moving them again, or leave them where they are. |
| "There was a problem deleting folder … Folders that have subsites can't be deleted." | This message is misleading, because the folder has no subsites. Some files inside it could not be moved, so SharePoint couldn't remove the folder from the source. | Explains it in plain words, breaks the folder down and moves the remaining files one by one. One stubborn file no longer holds back a whole folder. |
| "… is already part of another copy/move operation" | An earlier job is still working on that file. Closing the browser tab does not stop a Move to job on the server, and SharePoint has no way to cancel one. | Keeps track of the earlier job and moves the file once that job lets go of it, instead of failing it. |
| A file that is open, checked out or locked | Someone has the file open in Office, or it is checked out. | Lists the locked files while the run keeps going. For each one you can try again now, skip it or copy it instead, or give one answer for all of them. |
| An error saying the path exceeds 400 characters | The file's path at the destination would be longer than SharePoint allows. It was fine at the source; the move made it longer. Copying it instead fails the same way. | Warns you about every such file before the move starts. If one is still refused, lets you give it a shorter folder or name at the destination with a live character count (see below). |
Why Copy to works when Move to doesn't
A move takes a file's whole version history with it. A copy takes only the latest version, and that includes SharePoint's own Copy to. So when SharePoint refuses to write a file's history, the move fails every time while a copy goes straight through. A common trigger is two libraries whose version settings differ, for example drafts (minor versions) or content approval turned on at one end only. You can compare them under Library settings → Versioning settings. ShareMaster checks both libraries before a move starts and shows you their settings side by side. It can also turn on minor versions at the library that lacks them. That is offered as something that may reduce refusals, not a cure, because some files are refused even when the settings match.
What you get when a file has to be copied instead
- The file always arrives. ShareMaster puts back its Created, Modified, Created By and Modified By and then reads them back to check they stuck.
- It arrives with its latest version only. The dialog tells you so before you choose, and the run results flag every file that was copied.
- If the person who created or last edited a file no longer has an account, the dates are kept but Created By / Modified By show the account that ran the move. The run results say so.
- The original only ever goes to the recycle bin, never a permanent delete, and only after the copy is in place.
- A copy never overwrites a file that is already at the destination.
SharePoint Move to fails: path longer than 400 characters
SharePoint will not put a file or folder at a path longer than 400 characters. That applies to Move to, Copy to, uploads and sync alike. It is one of the most common reasons a native Move to leaves files behind, and the hardest to see coming, because every file was within the limit where it started.
The count is the whole decoded path after the host name: /sites/, the site, the library's URL name (often Shared Documents, even when the library is called Documents), every folder, and the file name with its extension. A space counts as one character, not as %20.
A move changes the start of every path inside the folder you move. Send a folder to a site with a longer address, or a few levels deeper into another library, and every file in it gains the same number of characters. On one customer's move, two spreadsheets 335 characters long at the source would have landed at 402 and 406 characters. SharePoint refused both. The browser's Move to gives you no list of these files before it starts, so you find out from the failures, and Copy to fails them for the same reason.
How ShareMaster handles long paths
- It checks before anything moves. While building the plan, ShareMaster works out where every file and folder will land, including the ones inside moved folders and the stop each file makes on the way, and measures each path the way SharePoint does.
- It tells you which files, and by how much. If any would go over 400 characters, it shows you the longest ones and saves the full list as a CSV beside the plan. You choose to stop or carry on. Stopping changes nothing, so you can shorten a folder or file name and plan again.
- It lets you re-path a file SharePoint still refuses. In a move, a refused file waits in the destination site rather than failing outright. At the end of the run, Move to a different location shows its full landing path with a live count, for example 406/400, and you edit the folder, the name or both. The file then moves there in one step with its version history, its dates and authors are put back, and any new folder on the way is created for you. It never lands on top of an existing file.
Want to check a library before a migration? The SharePoint file and folder naming restrictions reference lists the path, name and character limits in one place.
Leave a link behind at the old location
After a native Move to, the old folder is simply gone. Bookmarks, links pasted into emails and Teams chats, and people's habits all point at a place that no longer holds anything.
Tick Add URL shortcut on a move and ShareMaster leaves a small .url link where each moved file used to be, named after the file, so Report.docx leaves Report.docx.url. Clicking it opens the file at its new location. You can choose for the link to open the file itself or the folder it moved into.
- The old folder structure stays browsable. When a whole folder moves, ShareMaster makes it again at the source to hold the links, along with every folder inside it, so people can still click down the path they know.
- Written as the move runs. Each link appears once its file has fully landed, not in one batch at the end.
- Never over an existing file. If something with that name is already there, it is left alone.
- Can be switched on when you resume. If a move started without links, you can turn them on when you pick the run back up.
Links are for moves only. A copy leaves the original where it was, so there is nothing to point at.
Questions
Why does SharePoint Move To fail with a path longer than 400 characters?
SharePoint will not put a file or folder at a path longer than 400 characters, by move, copy or upload. The count is the whole decoded path after the host name, starting at /sites/, including the site, the library's URL name, every folder and the file name. Moving a folder to a site with a longer address, or deeper into another library, adds characters to every path inside it, so files that were fine at the source can go over 400 at the destination. Copy To hits the same limit, so copying instead does not help.
How do I find which files will be too long before I move them?
ShareMaster works out where every file and folder in the plan will land before anything moves, including the items inside moved folders, and warns you about every path that would be over 400 characters. It shows the longest ones, saves the full list as a CSV beside the plan, and asks whether to stop or carry on. Stop changes nothing, so you can shorten a folder or file name and plan again.
What happens to a file that is still refused for its path length?
In a move, the file waits in the destination site and the end-of-run window offers Move to a different location. It shows the file's full landing path with a live count against 400 characters, and you edit the folder, the name or both. The file is moved there in one step with its version history, and its dates and authors are put back.
Can people still find a file at its old location after a move?
Yes. Tick Add URL shortcut and ShareMaster leaves a .url link named after each moved file in the folder it left, for example Report.docx.url. Clicking it opens the file, or the folder it moved into, at the new location. Moved folders are made again at the source to hold the links, so the old folder structure can still be browsed.