How we moved SharePoint Online lists with Person and Lookup columns between site collections, and which Microsoft tools do this job today. Request a free consultation
Business Requirements
Perform list migration between site collections in SharePoint Online. Restore “Person” and “Lookup” columns.
Why the Out-of-the-Box Option Fell Short
SharePoint’s own route is to save the list as a template (list settings -> Save list as template) and create the list from that template on the target site. Microsoft supports list templates with Lookup, Managed Metadata or Person or Group columns only on the site where the template was created: on another site collection, those columns come up blank or show the wrong data. That ruled the template out for this customer.
Solution
For this project, we moved the lists with Virto Backup & Recovery Cmd, our command-line tool for saving and restoring SharePoint Online data. Virto Backup & Recovery is no longer sold.
Today, Microsoft’s own tools cover list moves: list templates, list designs, PnP provisioning templates, Power Automate flows and cross-tenant site migration. Our guide How to Migrate SharePoint Online Lists with Microsoft’s Own Tools compares what each one keeps and where people and lookup columns need attention.
