SharePoint 20010 - Copy List Items Across Sites

In this article I would like to demonstrate one way of copying a list from one site to another. Obviously there are many ways of doing it and I would like to use the way in which we do not need any other tools.

Scenario

Our source list is named Contacts in the default site. You need to copy this list to another site named Research.

Steps Involved

The following are the steps involved:

1. Create the Contacts List
2. Save as Template
3. Download the Template file
4. Create new site
5. Import the Template in new site
6. Create List from Template

Step 1: Create the Contacts list

To proceed we need a list with data. Create a Contact list in the default site with the following columns:

1. Title
2. Name

Add some data to the list as shown below:



Step 2: Save the list as a Template

Now we can proceed with saving the list as a template file.

Open the list and go to the List tab and click on List Settings as shown below:



In the page that appears, use the Save list as a template link.



In the page that appears enter the following details. Please remember to check the Include Content checkbox as shown below:



In the above page we are specifying the File name of the template. By checking the Include Content checkbox we will get the file with list data too.

After everything has been entered click the OK button.

You should get the following message:



Now the list template is created and copied to the Template Gallery.

Step 3: Download the Template file

Click on the OK button from the previous screen and you will see the Template Gallery.

(You can also take the screen from Site Actions > Site Settings > List templates link)



Now click on the Contacts List item to download the file. You should get the file as Contacts List.stp. Try to open the file inside notepad and you will see the following content.



So now we are ready with the List Template file. We can also share this file to others to get deployed to another site.

Step 4: Create new site

We need to create a new site to test the importing of templates. Please go to the Central Administration web site and create a new site collection named Research.



You can name the site as Research Way template from Document Workspace.



After entering the details like site name, template, User name click on the OK button.



In a short while the site will be created.



Please copy the URL from the above screen. You will need it in the next step.

Step 5: Import the Template in new site

Now open the new site collection and go to Site Actions > Site Settings > List Templates



In the page that appears you will see there are no items.



Now we need to upload our STP file into this list. Click on the Documents tab and then Upload Document button.



You will get the following dialog.



Select the file which you saved in the previous step and click the OK button. You will get a prompt and continue with OK button.

Now the STP file is added to the templates as shown below:



Step 6: Create List from Template

This is the last step and now you can proceed to create the list from this template. Please go to the Home Page and click on the Lists link. Further click on the Create button.

In the dialog that appears click Lists from the left pane and you will see the Contacts List there.



Select our Contacts List template, enter the name and click the OK button.

Good! Now you are ready with the new List with Data as shown below.



So this concludes our article on Copying List items across Site. Hope you have enjoyed it.

What is the expansion for STP file?

STP represents SharePoint Template.

References

Copy List Items

Summary

In this article we have explored a way of copying list data from one site to another. In real world we might need to copy data from one site to another site in production. I hope this method will be useful in a manual way.