Create Multiple Items In SharePoint Online List Using CSOM PowerShell

Here In this blog, I will show how to create multiple list items in SharePoint online using CSOM PowerShell code.

Introduction

 

Sometimes we need to create multiple list items at a time in SharePoint list due to a requirement - it could be while architecting the SharePoint application or doing SharePoint application testing. So when it comes to adding thousands of records in a list - it is not possible to add those records manually. Hence, the below script will be very helpful while handling this kind of requirement.

CLS
#Load SharePoint CSOM Assemblies
#Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
#Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$fileName = "Adding_Multiple_Items_Report"
$enddate = (Get-Date).tostring("yyyyMMddhhmmss")
$logFileName = $fileName +"_"+ $enddate+"_Log.txt"
$invocation = (Get-Variable MyInvocation).Value
$directoryPath = Split-Path $invocation.MyCommand.Path

$directoryPathForLog=$directoryPath+"\"+"LogFiles"
if(!(Test-Path -path $directoryPathForLog))
        {
            New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $directoryPathForLog

        }

$logPath = $directoryPathForLog + "\" + $logFileName
$isLogFileCreated = $False

#DLL location
$directoryPathForDLL=$directoryPath+"\"+"Dependency Files"
if(!(Test-Path -path $directoryPathForDLL))
        {
            New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $directoryPathForDLL

        }

#DLL location
$clientDLL=$directoryPathForDLL+"\"+"Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
$clientDLLRuntime=$directoryPathForDLL+"\"+"Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"

Add-Type -Path $clientDLL
Add-Type -Path $clientDLLRuntime

function Write-Log([string]$logMsg)
{
    if(!$isLogFileCreated){
        Write-Host "Creating Log File..."
        if(!(Test-Path -path $directoryPath))
        {
            Write-Host "Please Provide Proper Log Path" -ForegroundColor Red
        }
        else
        {
            $script:isLogFileCreated = $True
            Write-Host "Log File ($logFileName) Created..."
            [string]$logMessage = [System.String]::Format("[$(Get-Date)] - {0}", $logMsg)
            Add-Content -Path $logPath -Value $logMessage
        }
    }
    else
    {
        [string]$logMessage = [System.String]::Format("[$(Get-Date)] - {0}", $logMsg)
        Add-Content -Path $logPath -Value $logMessage
    }
}

#variables region.
$siteURL="https://globalsharepoint.sharepoint.com/sites/TestSite/"  #Your Site URL
$spUserName="YourUserName@<yourtenantname>.com"
$password = "YourPassword"
$spListName="Test List"
$numberOfItemsToCreate="5001"
#variables region end.
$securePassword= $Password | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force

#Setup the Context
try
{
$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL)
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($spUserName, $securePassword)

#Get the list
$spList = $ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($spListName)
$ctx.Load($spList)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

# Loop to create list items
for($i=1; $i -le $numberOfItemsToCreate; $i++)
{
  $listItemCreationInformationInSPOnline = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListItemCreationInformation
  $newListItemInSPOnline = $spList.AddItem($listItemCreationInformationInSPOnline)
  $newListItemInSPOnline["Title"] = "CustomItemNumberAddedThruCode_$($i)"
  $newListItemInSPOnline["CustomItemNumber"] = $i;
  $newListItemInSPOnline.Update()
  $ctx.ExecuteQuery()

  write-host "Item created: CustomItemNumberAddedThruCode_$($i)"
}

}
catch
{

    $errorMessage = $_.Exception.Message +"in adding mulitple items in SP Online list using CSOM PowerShell script";
    Write-Host $errorMessage -BackgroundColor Red
    Write-Log $errorMessage
}
Write-Host "##########################################################"  -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "The script execution has been completed!" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "##########################################################"

How to execute the above script?

 

Place the below two DLLs in your script directory "Dependency Files" folder as like below:

 

 

 

Change the value of the variable in the variables section like below: 

#variables region.
$siteURL="https://globalsharepoint.sharepoint.com/sites/TestSite/" #Your Site URL
$spUserName="YourUserName@<yourtenantname>.com"
$password = "YourPassword"
$spListName="Your List Name"
$numberOfItemsToCreate="Number of times you want to create(Number like - 1000,2000,3000 etc)"
#variables region end.

Execute the above script like below:

 

 

 After execution - output:

 

We can see that n($numberOfItemsToCreate) number items are added to the SharePoint list automatically. 

 

 

Summary

 

Hence, we have learned here how to create multiples items in SharePoint online in a batch using CSOM PowerShell.