Download

SharePoint onto this computer

Libraries, folders or files from SharePoint onto this computer: the current version of each file, with its folder tree rebuilt on disk and its Created and Modified dates applied where Windows allows. Nothing in SharePoint is changed.

What it tells you

• Whether each file came down, per file, with the folder tree it came from.
• Created and Modified dates as SharePoint holds them, applied to the local files on a best-effort basis.
• Anything that could not be downloaded, and why.

How it runs

1. Sign in. The source tenant, asked when you click the tile.
2. Pick what to download. Sites, libraries, folders or individual files.
3. Choose where it goes. A local folder. The tree is created under it.
4. It runs. Per-file progress with a live list. Cancel offers Finish the current item, Stop now, or Keep running. Nothing is left half-written: an item is either done or not started.

How it works

Download reads each library or folder you picked, sub-folders included, and plans the run before pulling anything. Every folder becomes a local directory under the folder you chose, empty ones included, and a picked sub-folder lands at the top of its own tree rather than at its full SharePoint depth. Characters Windows does not allow in a name are replaced with an underscore, and trailing dots and spaces are trimmed. A picked root that cannot be read is reported and the other roots carry on.

Before the first byte, the free space on the target drive is checked against the total size, and the run is refused if it will not fit; where free space cannot be measured, as on some network shares, it proceeds. A file already on disk is skipped, downloaded again only if its size differs, or always overwritten, as you chose. Each file is then requested afresh, so a long run does not depend on a download link that expires.

A file that fails is listed with its reason and the run moves on to the next one. A lost network connection pauses the run until it returns; a lost sign-in stops the run rather than failing every remaining file. Only the current version of each file is written, with SharePoint's Created and Modified dates applied where Windows accepts them. Nothing in SharePoint is changed. The run is recorded in Migration history with a downloadable report.

What you need

• Read access to what you pick.
• Enough free disk space. A library's size in SharePoint includes version history, so the download is usually smaller than the figure you see there.

What it will not do

• The current version of each file only. Version history is not downloaded.
• Empty folders are created, so the structure you get back matches the structure you had.
• Windows path limits are shorter than SharePoint's. A path too long to write is reported per file rather than failing the run.

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