#Import SharePoint Sites

To import existing sites, complete the following steps in order:

#1. Scan Site Collections

To import SharePoint sites, you must first scan the site collections that the sites belong to.

1. Navigate to AvePoint Online Services > Auto discovery > Scan profiles.

2. Create a scan profile.

   • If you want to import all sites that are not created via AvePoint Cloud Governance requests, you can choose the Express mode.

   • If the sites you want to import are in site collections that meet specific rules, for example, the site collection Template title is Team site, you can choose the Advanced mode.

   For details on creating a scan profile, see Manage Scan Profiles.

3. After the scan finishes, you can select the scan profile and click Scan History to view the scan results.

#2. Export Site Information to a Template File

Complete the following steps to export a template file that contains site information:

1. In AvePoint Cloud Governance, navigate to Settings > Import Existing Microsoft 365 Objects and configure the following settings in the Export Mode.

2. Name and Description ‒ Enter a name for the export job. Enter an optional description for future reference.

3. Object Type ‒ Select Site.

4. Scope ‒ Define the scope for the sites that you want to export. Expand the tree, and you can select from the following:

   • Site collection containers – Select the containers that contain the scanned site collections. The sites in the scanned site collections will be exported to the template file.

   • Site collections – Select the scanned site collections from the site collection containers. The sites in the selected site collections will be exported to the template file.

   • Sites – Select the sites that you want to export to the template file.

5. Export Location ‒ Choose to export the template file to a local path or an export location. If Export to an export location is selected, select an export location from the drop-down list or click Add New Location to create a new export location.

6. Click Save and Export on the ribbon to export the template file.

#3. Configure the Template File to Provide Governance Details

To configure an exported site template file, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to the location where the exported template file is saved.

2. Open the template file to view and configure the following information for each site:

   NOTE

   The template file contains column headings in the first row and these headings are required. The information you enter must be exact, including spaces and capitalization.

   • URL ‒ Displays the full URL of the site.

   • Site ID ‒ Displays the ID of the site.

   • Site Collection URL ‒ Displays the full URL of the site collection that the site belongs to.

   • Site Collection ID ‒ Displays the ID of the site collection that the site belongs to.

   • Primary Site Contact ‒ Enter the email address of a user to assign the user to be the primary site contact.

   • Secondary Site Contact ‒ Enter the email address of a user to assign the user to be the secondary site contact.

   • Metadata ‒ When you have metadata configured in AvePoint Cloud Governance, the metadata is included in the template file. You can remove the metadata that you do not want to apply to any sites.

     NOTE

     • If you select Show this field as read-only to business users/Hide this field from business users when creating the metadata, here you must enter the default value of the metadata. If you want to set different values for the sites, go to the Cloud Governance admin center > Profiles & templates > Metadata, edit the metadata, and change to Allow business users to configure this field/Require business users to configure this field.
     • If the type of the metadata is Hyperlink, the metadata value must be the desired text and the hyperlink address separated by a semicolon.
     • If the metadata type is Lookup, AvePoint recommends that you do not change the format of the SharePoint library/list column whose value will be retrieved as the metadata value. Make sure the metadata value is in one of the following types: Yes/No, Date and Time, and User or Group.
     • If the metadata type is Microsoft Entra property, the metadata value must be the user email address.

3. Save the template file after the configuration.

#4. Import the Template File

To import the configured template file, complete the following steps:

1. In Settings > Import Existing Microsoft 365 Objects, click Import Mode on the ribbon.

2. Name and Description ‒ Enter a name for the import job. Enter an optional description for future reference.

3. Object Type ‒ Select Site.

4. Import Location ‒ Click Browse to locate the configured template file.

5. Click Save and Apply on the ribbon to start the import job and apply the governance details.

#5. View Import Results

After you start the import job, you are brought to the Job Status tab. When the import job status changes to Completed, it indicates that the sites included in the template file have been successfully imported to AvePoint Cloud Governance.

If the import job status changes to Completed with Exception, it indicates that one or more sites are not successfully imported. Follow the steps below to view the import results:

1. Select the import job and click Download on the ribbon.

2. Select a location to save the import result file.

3. Navigate to the location where the import result file is saved and open the file.

4. The Result column shows the import result.

   • Successful indicates the site has been successfully imported.

   • Failed indicates the site is not imported. You can refer to the details in the Comment column for troubleshooting and modify the template file.

     When you modify the template file, remove the rows of the site that have been successfully imported and only keep the failed sites. After modifying the template file, you can import the template file again to re-import those sites.