Update A SharePoint List Item Without Increasing Its Item File Version Using SharePoint Client Side Model(CSOM)

Basically, when we are trying to update a SharePoint List Item/Document then the item/file version is increased according to the list versioning.

Basically, when we are trying to update a SharePoint List Item/Document then the item/file version is increased according to the list versioning. In the Server side object model, we can update a List Item without increasing its file version by setting ‘SystemUpdate’ as false. But in CSOM ‘SystemUpdate’ property is not supported.

In this below code block, I have mentioned how we can update a Listitem/file without changing item/file version number by using “ValidateUpdateListItem” method.

I have used a sample console application to achieve the goal. I have executed the below code sample for an SPO (O365) server and this will also work for all other SharePoint server versions except SP 2010 server.

In the code sample, I have updated the ‘Modified User’ and ‘Modified Date’ field of a SharePoint document.

The code block for this is as mentioned below,

using System;
using System.Security;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
namespace ConsoleApp1 {
    class Program {
        static void Main(string[] args) {
            List list = null;
            Web web = null;
            User modifiedBy = null;
            ListItem item = null;
            ClientContext context = null;
            ListItemCollection itemCollection = null;
            SecureString pswd = new SecureString();
            string userName = string.Empty;
            string password = string.Empty;
            string webUrl = string.Empty;
            string modifiedDate = string.Empty;
            try {
                // Site Url to scan
                webUrl = "https://SiteUrl";
                using(context = new ClientContext(webUrl)) {
                    userName = "UserName";
                    password = "Password";
                    foreach(char c in password.ToCharArray())
                    pswd.AppendChar(c);
                    // Setting credential for the above site
                    context.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(userName, pswd);
                    web = context.Web;
                    context.Load(web, w => w.ServerRelativeUrl, w => w.Id, w => w.CurrentUser);
                    context.ExecuteQuery();
                    // Getting list by Title
                    list = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("Documents");
                    context.Load(list, L => L.Id);
                    // Getting all items from selected list using caml query
                    itemCollection = list.GetItems(CamlQuery.CreateAllItemsQuery());
                    //Loading selected list items
                    context.Load(itemCollection, IC => IC.Include(I => I.Id, I => I.DisplayName, I => I.File, I => I.File.ServerRelativeUrl));
                    context.ExecuteQuery();
                    // The modified date will be changed to below date after the excuted successfully
                    modifiedDate = "20/01/2019";
                    // The modified user will be changed to current user after the code excuted successfully
                    modifiedBy = web.CurrentUser;
                    // Looping each item
                    if (itemCollection != null && itemCollection.Count > 0) {
                        for (int iCount = 0; iCount < itemCollection.Count; iCount++) {
                            try {
                                //getting individual list item from item collection
                                item = itemCollection[iCount];
                                var listItemFormUpdateValueColl = new List < ListItemFormUpdateValue > ();
                                ListItemFormUpdateValue listItemFormUpdateValue = new ListItemFormUpdateValue();
                                listItemFormUpdateValue.FieldName = "Modified";
                                listItemFormUpdateValue.FieldValue = modifiedDate.ToString();
                                listItemFormUpdateValueColl.Add(listItemFormUpdateValue);
                                item["Editor"] = modifiedBy.Id;
                                listItemFormUpdateValue = new ListItemFormUpdateValue();
                                listItemFormUpdateValue.FieldName = "Modified_x0020_By";
                                listItemFormUpdateValue.FieldValue = modifiedBy.Id.ToString();
                                listItemFormUpdateValueColl.Add(listItemFormUpdateValue);
                                // This method will update the ListItem properties without increasing file version
                                item.ValidateUpdateListItem(listItemFormUpdateValueColl, true, "");
                                context.ExecuteQuery();
                            } catch (Exception ex) {}
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                }
            } catch (Exception ex) {}
        }
    }
}

After executing the above code, we can find that the ‘Modified User’ and ‘Modified Date’ field value is updated but the Document/File version remains the same as it was before being updated.

In the below screenshot you can verify the difference.

Before Update

 

 

After Update