Split a document library into two - retining version history etc 2

[SPV]

Hi all.

One of our site collections (WSS 3.0) has a fairly large document library (5000+ items totalling just over 3Gb). For various reasons, we want to split this into two document libraries. The second library needs to be in the same site collection.

But we need to maintain the metadata (including system metadata such as Created By etc) and the version numbers/version history for each document.

We have tried various options...

The sledgehammer approach is to save the files we want to move, upload them to the new library then set the custom metadata. But this loses the automatic metadata (Created/Modified date etc) as well as the version history.

Saving the library as a template including content seemed smarter. But when we create the new library, the version history is missing.

The stsadm backup and export options do retain version history, but they do not go down to document library level.

We have even tried using a third party product, Quest Recovery Manager for SharePoint, but we can't get that to retain all the metadata.

Has anyone done this before? Can anyone suggest a smart way of doing this?

Thanks in advance,
SPV

 

[PatricktheAnalyst]

Curious if you tried SharePoint Designer, the Document Library into a web package or republishing it to a new location.



Patrick

http://sharepointglobal.blogspot.com/

 

[SPV]

Patrick, thanks for your reply.

SharePoint Designer had slipped my mind. I will give that a try, thanks.

As for publishing, isn't that a MOSS-only function?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[TheJon]

Steve,

I came across the same problem the other day where the client wanted the library split for performance reasons.

I created a template from the source library and created several target libraries using this template. Using SharePoint Designer I was able to move the files to the new libraries by selecting and moving.

All metadata was preserved except for:
* "Modified By" on all versions which was changed to me
* The latest version "Modified" date was updated to be the date of the move
* Metadata changes were not preserved in the version history (the version was available, but the reason for change blanked).

Hope this helps.

Jon


[tt]|_ |_ _ | _ _
|, | )(/, |(_)| )
'[/tt]

 

[SPV]

Thanks Jon. I think that's further than we had got with other methods. Looks like SharePoint Designer is the best bet (until someone writes a third-party tool to do the job properly).

Thanks too to Patrick for suggesting it.